Not a Ninja
by VaingloriousHound
Summary: Naruto didn't graduate from the academy. He didn't become a ninja, so what now? He walks a different path, lives a different life only to be drawn back into the ninja world just when he thought to have found a place of his own. NaruHina, SasuSaku(later chapters)
1. Chapter 1

**Not a Ninja**

 **A Naruto fanfiction**

 **A/N:** I dare say that the title makes it pretty clear what the story is about. The idea came from someone who is no longer with us, the same person who game me the ideas for Blind Light. Anyhow, tell me how you liked it, will you?

 **Prologue**

He had failed.

Utterly so. And he had been sure he could do it, so sure he could prove himself but no, it shouldn't be. Now he sat there, on the swing before the academy and watched the other graduates laughing happily with family and friends. But Naruto was alone, as he always was. Iruka, his teacher, stood there with the students and looked sadly at him. Disgusting. _He_ had failed him. How dared he pity him now, now that he had destroyed the path he had pushed himself on?! Naruto was no longer allowed to attend the academy. According to the school, he had proven unable to be a ninja too many times and they could not see him improve in the future. Apparently, the decision was final. And that meant, he couldn't try again. Now he couldn't become Hokage. Now his dream for the future were forever out of his reach.

He wasn't going to cry. Don't cry, don't cry, don't let them see that they got to you! Naruto couldn't take it anymore and fled the academy's yard. Out of the gate and across the street. For some reason, the glares and mumbles of "demon" and "monster" hurt so much more. Like knives tearing at his very core, stabbing at the fragile thing he truly was. So he ran faster, he wouldn't go back to the apartment, dealing with the landlord was the last he wanted to do now, so he ran into the forest, breaking through bushes and the high grass until he had to halt in front of the pond on some training ground. In the water he saw a boy with messy blonde hair looking back at him, tear tracks marred his face, eyes red and still brimming with tears.

"I told you not to cry!" he screamed at his reflection as he threw himself into it. The water was ice cold despite the relatively warm weather, taking his breath away, but that didn't matter. With the water around him, no one would be able to see his tears, right? So Naruto floated there in the icy pond, slowly loosing the feeling in his limbs. _Strange,_ he thought, _Why am I getting so tired?_ His eyes were so heavy, so incredibly, unbearably heavy. _Just for a few seconds..._ , he thought as he drifted into sleep. The dream was strange. It wasn't feeling like one, felt so real instead. More like... memories. There weren't that many, he was only twelve after all. But even so, none of these memories were nice, none of them seemed to draw him, all of them were just... there and nothing more. Even the memories of old man Teuchi and his daughter at their ramen stand, of Iruka telling him he could do it and of the Hokage talking with him, it all seemed so distant.

The rest was miserable. His life had been miserable. What had he done up until now that had improved his situation? He knew the people despised him, so he wanted to prove himself. Looking back, that was the most stupid thing he could have come up with. People hated him for his very existence for reasons beyond him. What difference would it make to them if he became stronger? Surely it frighten them more than anything if the "demon" suddenly was a powerful ninja.

He had to laugh at himself. It was pitiful, watching as he painted buildings, tripped people that pissed him of and how he just grinned like an idiot all day so they wouldn't see how hurt he really was. And then he came to this day, saw himself running, crying and ultimately jumping into the icy waters. So were was he now? Was he dead? At the bottom of the lake? Idly, Naruto wondered how long it would take till someone would find him, but then he remembered that no one would search in the first place. Maybe, just maybe, it was better this way. He couldn't be a ninja, he was rubbish at everything else and no one would take him in or give him work anyways. So he was now going to die, in this lake on a day in fall all alone.

But it didn't come like that. Naruto opened his eyes and the pain he felt assured him that he wasn't dead. At least not yet. His limbs hurt, they felt as if they were outright burning. He wanted so scream but he was so weak, he couldn't even move his lips. He could hear his heartbeat and it was so slow, so weak, Naruto feared it might stop. Air. He needed more air so his heart would keep beating. All of sudden the prospect of dying was a thousandfold more scary than it had been in the water. So he breathed. Faster and faster. Air! He needed Air! There was a sudden noise somewhere nearby but Naruto didn't bother reacting, he needed to breath, he didn't want to die!

His half lidded eyes registered movement above him and suddenly something pressed onto his chest. But why? He needed to breath more! "No-!" he croaked out," I need-" The pressure lessened a bit but was still there, hindering him to intake the full volume of oxygen into his lungs.

"Easy, boy, you will be alright." The deep voice of a man, probably the one who pressed on his chest. "You are hyperventilating. You'll hurt yourself even more at this rate. Don't make me knock you out. You will be fine. There's enough air going around for the both of us so calm down."

If Naruto wanted or not, he was forced to take smaller breaths and after a long period of silence only broken by Naruto's harsh breathing, he calmed down. He blinked, turned his head and looked at the room around him and the man that sat besides him. The room was lit by a single lamp on the ceiling which didn't really provide enough to illuminate the whole room properly. There was a fire going in an old hearth across the room and through a window Naruto could see that it was already dark outside. The man sitting besides him was... well, big and old, Naruto would have said. Not as old as the Hokage but his black hair started to gray already. He had a bushy, also graying, full beard and a nasty looking scar between his eyes that stretched up into his hairline and nearly touched his left eye. And his eyes were... nice. They held something Naruto hadn't really seen in the eyes of someone else. Caring and warm they were a green so bright and full like a wide meadow of the greenest grass Naruto could imagine.

"Better?" the man asked him and Naruto managed to nod. The man stood and handed him a glass of water from a table Naruto hadn't seen before. "Drink, it will help."

Naruto downed the glass in one go, nearly chocking on it. He coughed once and asked "Where am I? And who are you? How did I-" The man place a big, and also very scarred, hand on his small shoulder.

"You are in the back of my workshop, kid. And I am Mosu, the owner of this forge. And I'm also the one who fished you out of the water. Boy, you were drifting down the stream that feeds my water wheel. Got you out before you got in it though. Lucky you." He stood up, nearly having to bow his head so he wouldn't hit the ceiling, and threw a fresh log into the fire. "Want to tell me why you were in the water?"

Naruto shook his head. He didn't want to think and much less talk about it. Mosu sighed and opened the window to let some air into the room. "Aren't your parents missing you? If so, kid, I gotta get you home. People don't like me much, so me having a child here for hours isn't going to help that."

"I don't have any parents... I... I live alone." When he did not say anything further, Mosu looked at him intently. Naruto knew he was going to remember that he was _that_ boy and throw him out. But none of that happened.

"Stay as long as you need to, kid. Aye, I know who you are but I do not share whatever grudge they have with you. As long as you behave, I don't see why you couldn't get some more rest." With that said, Mosu got up and left the room and Naruto just stared after him. The man hadn't glared at him. Didn't he hate him? Wasn't he going to yell or something? If anything, Naruto was confused. He was scared. What would an adult do to him if not hate? Something worse? But he was too weak, how could he stop the man? And right now, he couldn't even move. He resigned himself to sleep, because nothing else he could do. Because he was not strong enough.

 **The Forge master**

When Naruto woke up again, he didn't feel much better at all. He could move, but his body protested against the slightest twitch in his muscles. Still, he nearly jumped out of the bed when Mosu entered.

"I see you're awake, boy. Here is something to eat because I don't really think you have recovered yet." He placed a a bowl of steaming noodles on the little nightstand besides Naruto and set a fork besides it. The blonde looked at the food, and even more so at the fork, and wondered who exactly the man was. A fork? Here in Konoha? It wasn't like metal grew on trees. Having metal cutlery was reserved for the rich and famous. And the man looked not exactly like a noble man. "It's not poisoned boy, unless you're allergic to ramen, that is." The word ramen mellowed him. It was the only food he could ever go and buy and with the ramen stand of old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, he also had some kind of social contact. Sure, it tasted awesome and all,but in the back of his mind Naruto suspected that it had to do with the fact that he liked the old man and his daughter. Hunger overcame pain and he took the bowl and the offered fork and dug in. The warmth of the broth was a wonderful thing as it had been many times before. While he was eating, he still watched Muso. It was not like he had no bad experiences if he didn't watch his back. He was ninja- No... he wasn't. He had _tried_ to be one. But he wasn't and would never be. The tears returned and he focused his eyes on his meal, praying that his weakness wouldn't show. But if Muso had seen, he didn't acknowledge it. He sat at the desk beneath the window, fiddling with some metallic _t_ _hing_. Naruto couldn't tell what it was.

"It's an armor plate," Muso said without looking away. "Got to finish this before noon. These Anbu guys don't like delays."

Naruto wiped the tears away after he placed the empty bowl back onto the nightstand and looked curiously at the blackened metal. "You... you are a smith?" He didn't ask about the Anbu. He didn't have anything to do with ninjas anymore.

Muso laughed. "Aye, lad. That and much more. Forge master, they call me, but that's just a title." He held the armor plate up into the light. "Shoulder piece. Light and durable. Gotta make about ten more, eleven maybe? Hmm..." He rummaged through a stack of papers that sat on the far end of the desk. "Nah, twelve even," he sighed and put the piece of metal into a wooded box underneath the working table he sat on. Standing up, he headed for the door and halted in front of it. "Want to watch, boy?"

The question surprised him. Did he want to watch? He shrugged and said "Sure." But getting out of bed was painful. Still, even when he nearly fell down once, Muso made no move to acknowledged his struggle. And for once, Naruto was glad to be ignored, he didn't like being weak and knowing it. The first thing Naruto recognized when he and Muso entered the next room was the heat. It was incredibly hot in here. It was a big circular room with an enormous oven of some kind in the middle. Attached to it were truly enormous bellows. They moved on their own, Naruto didn't see anyone working them.

"They are moved by the water wheel. The one you nearly got in yesterday, kid." He sat down by an anvil, the pit of glowing, hot red coal right besides him. He didn't seem to mind the heat. Out of a shelf with many, many drawers he pulled out a square piece of metal not unlike the armor plate from before. But it looked rough and way thicker and smaller than the plate piece was. And so Naruto sat there and watched Muso work. Heating, hammering, cooling and heating again. More hammering. Naruto was fascinated by Muso's work. Out of the metal piece he had formed an armor plate that would later serve to protect a ninja from harm.

"Want to try, kid?" Muso asked, pausing his hammering at the anvil. He held out the hammer to Naruto who, after some hesitation, took it. The hammer was heavier than it looked and Naruto's arm shivered under the strain as he raised the hammer to strike. "You wanna make it as flat as possible, the curve we add later," Muso told him, showing him an already finished piece. Naruto nodded and began his work. It was even harder than it had looked. Where Muso had to heat the metal once, Naruto's needed to go into the hot coals for three times but the old man was patient and led him through the process until it was finished.

"Not bad, now we need to fit these inside the vests and we may actually make it on time." After Naruto made another two, with Muso's guidance of course, he took over again and finished the other pieces. Far away from the heat of the forge on the other side of the room besides a big window were a lot of mannequin torsos. Each and every one wore the standard Anbu vest. Muso began to fiddle with needle and thread while Naruto was told to put the plate piece into the shoulder padding. That was easier said than done because he had to hop and jump a few times before he got it in. Having more than once already used needle and thread to flick his clothes, Naruto also sewed some of the vests shut, this time standing on a stool. Muso was surprisingly fast at sewing with his truly enormous hands. After some Anbu with a dog mask and silver hair collected the vests while Naruto stayed in the backroom, Muso continued to work and Naruto watched and occasionally helped. It was strange, they worked as if it had to be like that. Naruto stayed and Muso let him. Secretly he was glad to have some help in the forge. Demands for steel were rising and he, as the only Forge master going around these days, got the bulk of it and no matter how good he was, it was hard to do alone. Naruto was attentive and did not shy away from hard work but that and the fact that he was an orphan was all he knew about him. The name he got just so because he didn't want to be called kid or boy all the time. And time went by fast.

 **The Apprentice**

"Oi! Old man! Where's the tong at?"

"At the chakra metal shelves, boy!"

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Once you stop calling me old, maybe, kid."

"Dammit old man!"

"Suck it up and get to work! These blades aren't forging themselves!"

"Do it yourself, you old goat! I have plates to finish!"

"What! Kid, don't tell me you are _still_ working on the order from _three_ weeks ago?!"

"Like you're one to talk! All you did was make these knives for Asuma!"

"Oh? Kid, if you would stop forging the long sword for Hayate you would be finished ages ago!"

"Eh, excuse me?"

""What!?""

Startled, the young woman who had just entered the forge dropped the wrapped piece of metal she had carried. It hit the wooden threshold with a loud thump as the woman jumped back, a kunai drawn. Mosu and Naruto looked sheepishly at each other before Naruto headed to get the tong and Muso approached the newcomer.

"Sorry for that, Miss. How can the forge help you today?" he asked as he picked up the dropped bundle and held it out to her.

"Don't worry. I was more surprised to see you had an apprentice. It has been years since I last was here after all...," she said and accepted the bundle. Muso looked at her intently for a second before he remembered.

"Ah, little Miss Kurenai! Indeed, years upon years it has been! How did he like the knives?" he asked as he beckoned her inside. Kureni turned as red as her eyes were and looked out of the window.

"How did... you knew they were for him?" she asked.

Muso laughed as loud as his bellows blew. "Miss, he requests the same ones every month!" Kurenai smiled before she could stop it. She coughed a few times and shook her head.

"Anyhow, I'm here for my charge this time. She has... difficulties settling for a new fighting style and I had hoped you could help her with that." She placed the lump of metal on a nearby table and unfolded the rags. Muso gave a low hum as he looked it over. Naruto had also spied it and sat himself at the table, looking at it just as intently as Muso, also humming. Both didn't say anything for a while and Kurenai wondered what this was about.

"Miss," Naruto asked suddenly, "Is that oricalcum by any chance?" Before she could answer, Muso hit him over the head.

"Of course it is! Brat, did I teach you anything at all? Look at the structure! The color! The shine! It's obvious! Sheesh, kid, you better go back to the books..."

Naruto jumped of the table and jabbed a finger at the Forge master. "Screw you old man! I knew what it was! I just asked to be certain!"

"Go back to finishing the blade! It's been in the heat long enough!" Mosu told him and dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Naruto pouted. "I'll have you know that it has a minute more in there!" Still, he walked back to the oven." Stupid old man," he grumbled just loud enough for Muso to hear.

"I heard that, kid!"

"I know!"

"Ahem! My request?" Kurnai was amused but didn't let it show.

The old smith laughed just as loud as before. "Of course, of course! Now, what exactly is it I can help you with? For whom did you get us a lump of oricalcum as big as my hand?"

"Right. It's been a while, really, but I do lead a team of genin and one of them is not comfortable with the style her clan taught her. We tried teaching her different styles but none of them worked for her so far." Kurenai glanced out of the store for a second and then back at Muso with a slightly angry expression. "She's not the most confident soul and after she got _evicted_ from her clan, we thought it might be best if she moves away from their techniques for good and try something entirely different." Muso just nodded along, waiting for her to continue as she schooled her face back into a more neutral expression. "She's very handy with knives and we found she was a good shot when it came to using a bow-" Muso raised one of his enormous hands and Kurneai fell silent. The man smiled broadly at her,

"I see where you're coming from," he told her. "A multi functional bow. How exciting! Kid! Make room in the workshop! We have a special order!" When Naruto heard special order, he sprang into action and retrieved the long, straight blade from the oven and thrust it into a tub filled with oil. Not at all impressed by the flame that erupted from it, he pulled it out, laid it on the anvil and rushed out through the door into the workshop where shortly after a loud tumult ensued. Muso seemed not at all concerned about the sound and inspected the blade instead. It was already as good as finished, much to the man's surprise. Only the handle had to be made and the edge needed further grinding but beyond that, it was a damn good sword.

Kurenai also eyed the sword. It reminded her distinctively of Hayate's. It had the same sheen to it and was about as long. "So," she began, "Since when did you have an apprentice?"

Muso laid the blade back down and smiled. "Three years. Good years. Never thought he would catch on that fast or that he would become my pupil in the first place. Hell, I pulled him out of the stream behind the forge." He shook his head, not noticing Kurenai's frown. "Little brat grew on me..." He whipped his head around to her. "Don't tell him I said that!" he pleaded, "He won't let me hear the end of it!"

Kurenai had to laugh, she couldn't help it. "No, I won't tell him," she promised.

"All set! Would you clean up after yourself one day, old man?" Naruto called from the door.

"Shut up and speak for yourself! You have to finish _your_ armor requests, kid!" Muso shot back. Naruto said nothing in return and moved to work instead. After all it was true, the plates needed to be finished before the end of the week. So when Muso sat down at his drawing board the sound of Naruto hammering away at his work rang dimly through the workshop. Kurenai looked around the room that was wallpapered with sketches and drawings of various blades, spears, knifes and other weapons.

"So, any chance we might meet our client?" Muso asked as he began drawing at a frightening speed. "Weapons like this should be constructed with the person who will use them."

"Ah, yes, that can be arranged, of course." Kurenai watched as the enormous hand with the tiny pencil moved so fast over the paper she could barely follow it with her eyes. She didn't know how long she had been watching but at some point Naruto must have entered because when she looked around for once she saw him at the smaller table at the opposite side of the room, also sketching at an incredible pace. She looked him over the shoulder and saw that he seemed to be drawing arrows and something that looked like a shield. One of the arrowheads she could make out from beneath his arms was long enough too be used as a knife while another was attached to some kind of chain instead of the arrow shaft. Before long, Muso clapped his hands, producing a sound far louder than one would expect, and stood up with multiple sheets of paper in hands.

"Well, we seem to have some rough sketches, Miss." He turned and gestured to the many sketches in his hand. "If you could return with your charge in about a week, we will have some prototypes to test and fit for her."

Kurenai nodded. "Of course. In a week then. Thank you, Forge master, Naruto." She bowed and left the workshop with the rag she had brought the metal in.

"So... for whom exactly are we making a...," he looked at one of Muso's sketches, "mechanical bow with retractable blades and amplyfied a string with wind seals?"

"Well, a girl your age, I reckon." He looked at one of Naruto's sketches. "Apparently she will have arrows which double as knifes and... are those _runes_ for electric charges?" When did the boy study his book on runes?

Naruto shrugged. "Well, if it works, good or us and more so her."

Muso sighed. He shouldn't let his stuff lying out in the open like that. "So, if you're here sketching, I suppose you finished the plates?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Eh, yeah, sure... let me just clean up for a second." And with that he slipped out into the forge, leaving Muso behind who shook his head.

"How do we ever finish anything, I wonder..."

 **Memories of past dreams**

The week went by faster than Muso had thought and before he knew it, Kurenai knocked at their door. Because he was currently drawing the string on one of the prototypes and couldn't really let go, it was Naruto who opened the door.

"Yeah? Oh, Miss Kurenai! Please come in we were-!" Naruto lost any words when he saw the girl besides Kurneai but picked his jaw up from the floor quick enough so it wasn't really noticed. "Ehem! We were just about finished. Please, do come in!" And with that, he hastily retreated into the shop. He didn't hear whatever the girl had said.

"Damn! It just had to be- Oh man! What am I-! Gramps! What am I gonna do?!"

Muso placed the bow back down onto the desk and looked at his distressed apprentice. "What are you gonna do why, boy?"

Naruto had both hands in his hair, spinning in circles because there was no room to pace. "I _know_ her! It's- I saw her the day I-I- She was one of the last people I talked to before I met you!"

Mosu sighed. Naruto had never really told him what he had left or what he was doing to get himself into the pond that fed the stream but by now he had a pretty good idea. "Naruto." The boy stopped. When he was addressed by his name by Muso, he knew that the man was serious. "Is it bad to see her again?"

"I... don't know... I didn't even know her that well and..."

"So find out. You didn't tell anyone you left and from what you told me, no one cared enough to search for you. For now, just stay polite and do your job, see where that leads you. It has been three years after all, Naruto. Maybe she doesn't even remember you." Muso walked to the door in order to let Kurenai and the girl inside the back of the store.

"I'm sure she does! She was always very observant! Oh kami, what am I going to do?!" Naruto wailed.

"Your job, kid. You left behind whatever you did before. You do what you do now and you do it good." He laughed, albeit not as loudly as it was norm. "Take pride in that and don't mess this up. Come on, Naruto, you'll be fine."

Naruto nodded to himself and collected the arrows he had made in the past week. He had steeled himself for whatever reaction to come, but he dropped the arrows when he came to face the crying Hinata Hyuuga. She walked up to him and Naruto closed his eyes, bracing himself for one hard hit and maybe some foul names but instead he was outright knocked off his feet when she threw herself at him. Naruto was very much confused. Looking around he saw Muso _smiling?!_ and Kurenai looked somewhat impassive, having her eyes anywhere but on them. Hinata cried into his shirt, clinging to it as if her life depended on it.

"I missed you!" she pressed out, "I thought you were-... I-... When you didn't come back the next day I-" The rest of her words she just chocked on and cried even harder. Awkwardly Naruto patted her back and then winced slightly when her realized that he had landed on one of his arrows. It just had to be the one with the spikes.

"Hinata." He didn't really know how to continue from there but she looked up at him, eyes still teary and red. "I'm... I'm sorry, I guess. I just..." Naruto struggled not willing to even explain how he had nearly drowned himself. "I'm okay and... Its nice to see you again." It was lame really, Muso would tease him about that mercilessly for the next month, but he couldn't come up with anything better to say. Kurenai took pity and pulled Hinata off him and on her feet again.

She laughed to herself. She had kind of expected Hinata to react like that. "So, I remember us having business to attend. Shall we then?" Muso nodded and led her with Hinata in tow out back leaving a quite stunned Naruto behind.

"Oi, kid! The arrows!" came the shout and Naruto scrambled to his feet, collecting the dropped arrows and hurrying out back.

Behind the forge besides the stream was a wide open field. Right besides the river were some logs, looking very, very worn and farthest away from the house were multiple targets in the trees. Muso and Naruto used this field to test weapons for their customers. Hurtling out of the door and trying not to look at Hinata he put the various arrows into a quiver that was fixed to the table that stood at the wall of the workshop. On said table were the prototypes of the bows Naruto and Muso had made over the past few days, three in total and all of them ready to be tested.

"Now, my apprentice will show you each bow and you will decide which one to test further." Naruto glared at Muso but he looked away, seemingly unaware of the death glare.

Grumbling about stupid old goats, Naruto picked up the first bow. Well, it didn't exactly look like a bow, more like a small kite shield that Naruto strapped to his forearm with the pointed end at his hand. He took a shuddering breath and schooled his features.

"Well, this also doubles as shield or," he pressed a button at the grip in his hand and a blade as long as the shield slid out, aligned with his arm, "a katar. Of course it is also a bow. The mechanism that keeps it compact can be released while the blade is extended but it is out of balance this way." With another push the mechanism retracted the blade. Then, after a soft clicking sound was heard, the shield seemingly broke apart, revealing the bow string and the retracted blade. "It is a short bow, quickly to fire but with less power and range than a common long bow. The arms of the bow are strong enough to withstand powerful blows so they can still be used to block. The retracted blade acts as guide rail to the arrow you draw back and can still be extended while the bow is in use." He looked at Kurenai and also risked glancing at Hinata. The girl seemed to watch him more than the bow but she nodded along anyways. It made him smile despite himself.

Taking a deep breath, he picked up a regular arrow and without beating around the bush he fired at one of the targets. Much to Kurenai's surprise, it hit dead center. Not really acknowledging his display of marksmanship, Naruto picked up the next bow, this time also looking like one. A long bow to be precise.

"That's the fairly normal bow. A long bow, perfect for long range shooting and amplified by chakra it can fire an arrow hard enough to drill a hole into solid, common steel." To prove his point, he nocked another arrow. Briefly as he drew back, his fingers on both hands glowed, and when he let the arrow fly, a powerful gust of wind accompanied it. The arrow drilled straight through the tree he had fired at. Kurenai was speechless. She knew that Mosu made incredible weapons, Asuma's trench knifes were masterpieces after all, but this bow was scary.

"You can fold the bow by pressing a button on the grip." When Naruto did just that, the string was _sucked_ into one end of the bow while the other retracted down halfway to the handle until it revealed a curved blade that had apparently been hidden inside the bow from the very beginning. And after about a second, Naruto held a long curved dagger in his right hand. "And there you have a knife. It isn't as heavy as it should be but otherwise the bow would be heavier than it should. Extending it to a bow again also takes a bit longer unless you can speed the mechanism up with chakra." Hinata had by now come to focus on the truly amazing weapon she may soon use. Naruto placed the now-dagger onto the desk and reached for the last bow but hesitated. He shook his head and took the weird mess of metal anyways.

"Well, to be honest, I don't really know what this is supposed to do because I didn't make this one, but I'll give it a try." Naruto inspected the prototype and while he did that, Kurenai frowned. Did he just admit to constructing the other two bows? How in all seven blazes did someone like that not make it as a ninja? With a loud clack a long bow sprang forth in Naruto's hands. Along the grip ran two long blades which could obviously be taken of. Sure enough, Naruto took one of and looked at the space that had occupied it for a second before he looked at the handle of the dagger. Smirking, he let go of it, but before the dagger could fall to the ground, it was sucked back into it's original holding. With another button push, the arms retracted in under a second and left Naruto with the two sharp daggers connected at the handle. He twirled them a few times in his hand at amazing speed before extending it to a bow again. "Well, let's see what the rune does when I fire one...," he said more to himself than Hinata or Kurenai.

The arrow flew and as it impacted with the tree, it _sliced_ it in half and left a deep slash in the rock behind it. Naruto blinked, retracted the bow again and placed it on the desk to the others. "Well, that had more power than I expected... So... H-Hinata? Would you like to try them as well..?"

And while Naruto struggled with himself to talk to Hinata and Hinata did likewise with him, Kurenai walked over to talk to Muso who was sharpening a few knifes. "You let him make the bows?"

Muso didn't look up from his work when he answered. "Yeah, he also makes Hayate's swords and most of the armor for the Anbu. That and the usual repairs. This is the first time he had do do something that specific but I think he did good. His mechanism react a bit slow, but I didn't show him how to circumvent that yet." He looked over at Naruto who showed Hinata the buttons on the grip of the shield. "Say, Kurenai... You knew who he was, right? How come the Hokage hasn't picked him up yet?"

She didn't answer immediately, looking at Naruto and Hinata. "The Hokage thinks he's dead."

Muso nearly dropped his whetstone. "What? His _son_ got his knifes from him. Why didn't anyone tell him?"

"Not everyone agreed with how he was treated," Kurenai said. "Asuma told me about him a few months back. Lord Hokage may have passed laws to keep him from harm but they were simply ineffective. Those who knew had to keep their distance and those who cared... grieve still."

"Lady," Muso told her, "I came here a year or so after the whole mess with the nine tails and even without any prior information, I know when his birthday is, I see the whisker marks in his face, the damn _seal_ on his stomach and I see how other people look at him and hear what they call him. I am well aware of what he is to this village, so I don't buy it when you tell me that the Hokage thinks he's dead." Kurenai didn't answer so Muso stood up. "I don't know what your Hokage is planning with him, but try to hurt him and you and everyone else with him will regret ever setting a foot in _my_ forge." And with that, the Forge master returned into the forge. Kurenai followed some time later with a thoughtful frown.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. I'm sorry that I disappeared so suddenly, but it just needed to... I was... tired of it all, I guess." Testing the bows, including arrows, was through with but neither Kurenai nor Muso were in sight. Naruto had since decided to at least talk to Hinata properly.

Hinata rapidly shook her head, long hair swishing through the air. "No! I-I shouldn't have overreacted like that! I'm sorry!" She bowed deep and Naruto got distinctively uncomfortable, so he pulled her up again on her shoulders.

"It's fine, really." They were silent for a minute and Naruto racked his brain for something to say to her. "Ehm... Oh, I might be a little late by now, but congrats on passing the test. I told you you could do it." He managed a small smile to her which she returned just as small. Hinata looked like she wanted to talk about that but bit her tongue. If anything had changed with Naruto over the years, it was that he finally paid attention. To people more so than ever.

"Hinata, it doesn't bother me to talk about it. I failed the test and I was told I had wasted my chances. Well, so I ended up here after I could no longer be a ninja or become Hokage and all that..." Still, he sighed with a somewhat wistful expression that didn't go unnoticed by Hinata.

In a bout of unrivaled self confidence, she took his hand. Her face reddened as she spoke. "I'm sure you could have been a great ninja, Naruto... I-I know that you couldn't make a clone but... that alone wouldn't make you a bad ninja, but I can see that you're also a great... well, I don't know what to call your profession. Smith? Armorer? Bowyer?"

Naruto had stared at the hand that held his when she spoke but he had managed to listen anyways. "Ah.. well, the old man is a Forge master and makes every kind of weapon and armor you can think of and I'm his apprentice so... Yeah I don't have a name for it either," Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Anyhow, how have you been doing since graduation?"

Naruto know that his question made her uncomfortable but before he could take it back she answered anyways. "I was sorted into team 8 with Kiba and Shino and with Kurenai as our sensei. A tracking team using my eyes, Kiba's sense of smell and Shino's bugs." She got a far way look when she continued. "We did D-rank missions for about a year before we were forced to go as backup on a C-rank mission with team 7. That's the team Sasuke and Sakura are on. We arrived and... they were already fighting on the bridge and... we- we were told to take away the client and hide him. I.. I killed that day for the first time...Nearly got myself killed along the way. I was sick for a week or so after and... and then... father and..."

"Hinata." Her name snapped her out of it and she looked at Naruto's blue eyes that were glued to hers. "It's okay, Hinata. I think I know what happened then, you don't need to talk about that." He gave her hand a squeeze and they continued to sit at the desk in silence.

Naruto wasn't stupid, not as stupid as he had been in the academy at least. He knew that Hinata was the heiress of her clan, that much he remembered. That, as far as he was informed, meant that she wouldn't wear a headband, so to show that she belonged to the main family. But Hinata was wearing a headband and Naruto could see the cloth of bandages beneath. So she had been sealed and thrown out, that much wasn't hard to guess, after all Kurenai had introduced her as her charge and said she had been evicted. His jaw clenched in anger but he wasn't about to snap with Hinata here. The girl took a shaky breath and continued to talk.

"After... after all that, I was taken in by Sensei and.. well, life continued. We got some escort missions, searching for missing people, retrieving information an informant had left behind, that kind of thing, nothing too dangerous. But I... can no longer train my f-... the techniques, sensei said we could try something else and because I'm not all that strong I wanted to do what I can to get stronger... And now I'm uh, here, yes..." Hinata released a breath she had been holding and let her head fall back as she looked at the by now orange tinted sky.

It was strange looking at Hinata like that. He hadn't really done it before and when he did, she would turn away from him as fast as possible, face bright red. Back then, she was that weird girl with these beautiful eyes and probably the only girl that was no running after Sasuke all day. He knew for a fact that she had followed him more than once when he set of to train but he never acknowledged it nor mentioned it to her. He just wasn't sure how to talk about it. And because he liked talking to her, he decided to talk about just that.

"You know... I still remember when you followed me after the academy when I snuck away to train." Hinata nearly jumped a foot into the air and made a sound that sounded like "meep!". It was cute really, so he continued. "I don't really know why you did that and I never asked you either because I wasn't sure what to say. You were the only one who was some kind of nice to me and you weren't running after Sasuke all day and I didn't want to freak you out by accusing you of something like that..." He laughed and shook his head. "You know, Hinata, maybe, just maybe, it's better this way, better that I didn't become a ninja. I'm not strong like you are, I couldn't do what you do." He looked her in the eye and her protest died i her throat. "I mean it. Maybe, just maybe, I could have become a ninja but in what way exactly would I have carried on? The Hokage needs to be strong, not only the strongest ninja but also a strong person, and that's not me. I didn't want to see that back then, I just wanted to be recognized as... well, as something else than what they hated me for. I have decided that I didn't need that anymore. I have gramps, I have my work and today I even met you again so that decision wasn't all bad, huh?"

She looked at him for a long time as she mulled over the words in her head. Finally she nodded and smiled. "Yeah, maybe not."

"See?" Naruto smiled back. "Still... I can't help but think what could have been.. You know, I think it you'd have been fun with you on my team!"

"Definitely!" Hinata said and smiled back.

Picking up the shield prototype, he snapped it into the bow. "Say," he began, "How long have you been doing archery?"

For some reason, she looked quite embarrassed. "Oh... not all that long, a bit over a month perhaps so I'm not all that good yet. I don't think I could have hit the targets like you did, Naruto..."

"Don't worry about that," he told her, "It's my job to make weapons and the old man told me, to make them perfect, I need to know how to use them. So it's safe to say that this wasn't the first time I used a bow. You know, I can help you train. With knifes too..." Now it was Naruto's turn to be embarrassed.

"I- I would ... like... that..." Hinata's voice was barely above a whisper but Naruto picked it up anyways and hopped of the desk.

"Great! That's great! I mean, ah, when would you like us to... meet up then?" he asked her, not managing to keep the smile of his face.

Hinata smiled too, albeit blushed even more so. "Sensei and me will return in three days to talk about finalizing our order. Well and actually deciding on what I should choose... And I think I would have time afterwards so..."

"In three days it is then!" Naruto hand a bounce in his step, Hinata had never seen before when he was still in the academy. "Come, let's talk to the old man! Have you already thought about what you want?"

 **Rendezvous**

"He, hey calm down, lover boy!" The remark caught Naruto of guard and the hammer missed it's original target. The howl of pain was heard all through the outer district of Konoha followed by the bellowing laugh of Muso.

"You- I-...Shit!" Naruto hopped through the forge until he found the tub full of water and thrust his abused hand in. "Aw damn! I think I broke my damn hand!"

"Probably, lover boy. But we both know it'll heal in an hour or so," Muso said offhandedly and continued to fit a vest with armor plates.

"That doesn't make it hurt any less!" Naruto growled back and watched as the back off his left hand turned purple.

Muso reached over to a desk, grabbing for more plate pieces but found none. "Boy, aren't there any more plates?"

Naruto kicked open a chest and peered inside. His features grew quite solemn. "No, none left."

"Are the shelves empty?" the Forge master asked.

The blonde grit his teeth. "Yeah."

Muso stood up from his workplace. "Time to close shop, Naruto. We need to get supplies."

"Aye, on it." And without any fuss, the two of them shut down the storefront, both of them grabbed a rucksack and a pick axe, and locked the doors.

"Come on," Muso said, shouldering the pick axe.

"Yeah, minerals ain't gonna mine themselves," Naruto replied and fell into step behind the bigger man.

And for two days the forge was closed.

For two days no one saw the Forge master and his apprentice.

Hinata and Kurenai came by but only found a sign on the door reading "Out for supplies" and nothing more. Hinata was saddened not to be able to surprise Naruto with her earlier visit but thought nothing of it. When they returned, the other merchants in the street took a fearful step aside when they passed. Loaded with crates on their backs, stacked to over twice their height, they looked like soldiers returning from a war. Dirty, bloody and most likely wounded they were a fearful sight with their pick axes across their neck. Their load hit the ground in front of the forge hard enough to make the occupants of the weaver's store jump.

"You did well, Naruto," Muso told him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Stretching his sore back from carrying the crates he gave a humorless laugh. "I really wonder how you did that on your own before..."

"Was harder then, boy. Come one, lets wash up and open shop. Wouldn't want you to miss your rendezvous." Muso laughed when the shadows vanished out of his apprentice's face and were replaced by a blush.

"It's not- I help her with her archery!" he shouted loudly, the pain in his shoulders and the blood on his hands already forgotten. And Muso was glad that Naruto was strong enough to do that. He told him what he needed to do to get the metal they needed to forge and Naruto had accepted that.

The stream was cool but that didn't matter to Naruto. Ripping of his dirty clothes, he jumped right in. At least he left his boxers on this time. Muso could swear that the lady from the sawmill at the other side of the stream still looked at him like he had done something wrong since she saw Naruto running nude through the field and into the water one day. The old lady really ought to mind her own business which, mind you, wasn't going all that well.

Naruto always stayed longer in the water than necessary, so Muso was the first one back inside. They had stowed away the goods and Muso was opening the windows and the door when Kurenai, dragged by Hinata, stood before him. "Ah yes! Come inside, come! Some have been all too eagerly awaiting your visit! Naruto's out back so feel free to go see him." And while he had addressed both of them, Hinata nodded enthusiastically before turning red, offering a meek apology and left through the door that led into the field behind the forge.

Lighting a lamp on a desk further away from the heat of the oven, the Forge master offered Kurenai a seat. "Hinata is a lot livelier than she was before. Meeting him really helped her."

"It did?" Muso asked though the answer was obvious.

"Yes, very," Kurenai told him. "She confessed one day that it was him who had made her hope, urged her to push herself beyond. When he vanished as soon as she graduated, well, she took quite the hit. But she told me she'd stay strong and push on because it's what Naruto would have done."

Muso frowned ever so slightly but caught himself before Kurenai noticed. "Well, we have changed the bow a bit. If she likes that one, we'll make it with the good materials and the oricalcum of course." A loud scream was heard from outside and Kurenai immediately jumped up but Muso held her back. "Calm down, it's nothing really. An... accident at worst."

"What? What is!?" Kurenai was genuinely worried now. With surprising force, Muso pulled her into the chair.

"Your charge may or may not have stumbled over my apprentice as he was bathing in the stream. No, you need not kill him, he's decent," he quickly added when a kunai appeared in Kurenai's hand. He sighed in relief when he put it away again but he could see that she was not pleased. _Woah there Asuma, you better watch out for yourself..._ he thought to himself with a chuckle.

Outside, Naruto had submerged himself in the stream while Hinata had just frozen in place. It may have been her to scream but that had been the surprise. The shock was what froze her. The wounds on Naruto's body, she couldn't imagine were they would come from. Naruto used her shock and flew out of the water and crossed the distance from the stream to the house in a single, ungraceful leap. He managed to throw on a pair of pants before Hinata came inside.

"Ah... this is... well... I'm sorry?" Naruto had his back to her so she wouldn't see the seal. It always appeared when he was wounded, even if it was just a scratch. His most recent wounds were now only scraps that would be gone before the sun went down with the exception of the one stab wound on his back which was still bleeding from being freshly washed out. It had been rather deep but didn't hit anything vital in his lower back. With a deep frown that Naruto hadn't imagined possible for Hinata she walked up to him and made a few hand signs before letting her softly green glowing palm hover over the wound.

Naruto was absolutely still while Hinata healed him. When the feeling of her palm vanished, so did the seal on his stomach and he sighed in relief. "Thank you, Hinata... It would have healed anyways but... thank you."

Hinata meanwhile frowned, looking at her palm. She knew she had practiced medical jutsu bit a wound like that wasn't supposed to heal that fast and without a scar left behind. And didn't he have bruises and other little cuts just a minute ago? "How... How did that happen?" she asked and immediately apologized for it. "No, I'm sorry! I shouldn't... I'm sorry for being intrusive!"

Naruto turned around, shaking his head. "No, no you aren't!" he told her. "It's... it was an accident when we were... mining these past two days. You see, we can't buy the special metal we need, merchants don't trade it, so we have to go and get it ourselves and the mines in the north aren't exactly safe." He didn't mention that the roads were even more dangerous. "Anyhow, now that I'm patched up, want to start our uh..." Muso's remark about his 'rendezvous' crept back into his head and he nearly said just that. Boy, that would have been embarrassing. "..our training?"

"Yes!" Hinata exclaimed enthusiastically only to turn bright red and say, "Yes... I'd like that..." It made him smile and he nearly forgot that he was still shirtless. A chill ran down his spine and when he looked back the the door to the forge, red eyes gave him a death stare, kunai glinting in the light of the fire. Faster than ever before Naruto was fully dressed, gloves for good measure and led Hinata outside. Kurenai was damn scary, he decided.

It seemed to Naruto that he had been a natural when it came to handling weapons, especially blades. He knew Hinata wasn't stupid or anything, but he picked up handling any weapon at a frightening speed, sucking it up like a sponge. Still, after they finished working with the bow, he asked Hinata to attack him with the katar of the kite -bow, as Naruto called it. She had long since decided to use the other bow, the one with the blade hidden inside, still it was good training. But she hesitated.

"Hinata, I'm not made out of glass you know, come on. Cut a man some slack!" He twirled a long straight dagger with double edge in his right, occasionally throwing it up into the air and catching it again without looking. "But you're not... I-" she said and hesitated still. He grit his teeth as an old hurt bubbled up and because she had the shield already strapped to her arm, Naruto moved first. And he moved fast. Hinata didn't manage to even raise her arm enough before the tip of the dagger was pointing at her throat.

"I _know_ I'm not a ninja, Hinata. But that doesn't make me weak," he said in a dangerously low voice. He stepped back nearly as quick as he had approached and Hinata managed to nod before she took a ready stance.

She didn't stand a chance.

Naruto was fast, his blade in constant motions as he assaulted her crumbling defenses with more power than she believed Sakura to have in these earth shattering punches of hers. Finally, he slipped his foot in between legs and jerked it back, causing her to fall backwards. Still, with an impromptu cartwheel, she regained her footing and readied herself for another attack. But Naruto stood relaxed and so she followed his example.

"That was good," he told her, "To be honest, I didn't expect you to hold yourself that long. I'm really impressed." He smiled at her and Hinata's heart speed up even more than it had from the physical exertion. But shouldn't see be ashamed? She was a ninja, even though only a genin, and had lost to an artisan. Was she really that weak? No, no, no, no. She didn't allow herself to think like that. Naruto had been strong back then and he was strong now. He had told her he was impressed with her, and he wouldn't lie to her, he never did. She smiled brightly, so, so brightly that Naruto dropped his knife instead of catching it. The tip of the blade embedded itself between Naruto's toes but he didn't even notice the close call, so mesmerizing was her smile.

"You better close your mouth, else you'll catch a fly with it."

With an audible clack Naruto snapped his mouth shut and spun around to see Muso at the grinding stone grinning at him. Naruto wanted to say something but the grin on his master's face was different. It wasn't teasing, wasn't offensive but relayed genuine happiness for what he saw and that threw Naruto off track.

So instead, he bowed slightly to the man and said, "Yes, master." Muso's grin became even wider as he continued to sharpen some arrow heads.

"Okay, what about the payment?" Kurenai and Hinata sat inside the workshop at a desk, all three prototypes lay before them.

"It depends," Muso said, smirking lightly, "Choose first, we will see to the rest afterwards."

Hinata nodded and pointed out the long boy with the long dagger hidden inside. Muso and Naruto still looked at her expectantly. "Uhm, I like this one the most," she offered, not sure what they wanted.

"Only this one?" Naruto asked her and Kurenai frowned at him.

"There is no way we can come up with the money for two master crafted weapons, even less so three," she said.

"Miss," Muso said," We have no need for the money." Kurenai blinked in confusion so Muso continued. "You have brought us a limp of oricalcum. Do you even know just how rare that metal is? What you brought us would justify you taking all three of these and we'd guarantee you a life time supply for special arrows."

Hinata looked stricken. "But I can't carry three bows... and I couldn't accept..."

Naruto smiled at her and instantly both of them turned red. Coughing, he resumed what he wanted to say. "Yes, uhm... you could take the kite-bow and the one you wanted. That and all of these arrows I have yet to finish. That's easy to carry and you'd be more versatile."

Smiling gratefully she was about to reply when Muso jumped up. "You mean to tell me they aren't finished yet? What about the armors? Hayate's blade?"

Following his master, Naruto jumped up as well. "And what about the Hokage's helmet? The enchanted trench knifes? The scythes this one girl asked for? Or even this weird great sword we both have to lift cause it's too damn heavy?"

"If you would just finish these damn armor plates, I could-"

"And if you would stop hardening that damn helmet all day I could have long since-"

"Well excuse me, apprentice of mine! Quality takes time!"

"That's exactly what I thought too!"

Kurenai and Hinata glanced at each other before bursting out laughing.

"Whats so funny?" both man asked at the same time before they also started to laugh.

Muso wiped a tear away from his green eyes. "Seriously though, go finish the armors." Naruto instantly stopped laughing.

 **Chunin Exams**

Naruto didn't like the forest of death, the named seemed to be program, but since he would get to see Hinata once she would arrive at the tower, it may be worth it. He was their to repair and supply all the other ninjas participating in the exams and also to perform maintenance on special weapons, such as Hinata's bows or Tenten's... well, most of the stuff Tenten carried. And while he was still somewhat anxious to see all of those who had graduated when he hadn't, Naruto told himself that he would have come across them anyways at some pint in the future, so he decided to get over with it. That and nothing could have kept him from cheering on Hinata. Not that he told that anyone.

He was in a room close to the arena so the participants could have their weapons repaired or replaced if needed. Who knew what would happen in the forest after all? Forcing down the worries for Hinata, he left the work shop and walked down the halls towards the entrance of the tower. Many others also stood there, waiting for someone to arrive. One of them was Kurenai and a man who had the same hairstyle as the anbu with the dog mask that always came to pick up the armors. Always two hours late.

Anyhow, Naruto stood besides Kurenai, who looked very nervous for once.

Hinata wasn't here yet. Naruto sighed loud enough for Kurenai to notice him.

"Ah, Naruto. You're here already! I suppose you're all set up then?"

He nodded in response. "Have any others arrived already?"

A small frown found its way into Kurenai's features. "Yes, but no team from Konoha yet."

"I see." Afraid he'd worry even more, Naruto returned to the small workshop.

Once he turned into the hallway, Naruto nearly crashed into a ninja clad in a black velvet jumpsuit and wrapped shape as big as the teen himself on his back. Mumbling an apology, Naruto passed by without waiting for a response. The blonde girl with the big fan on her back, that stood behind the other ninja, seized him up and apparently decided that he wasn't worth talking to. But the boy with the blood red hair and the gourd on his back didn't seem to feel like letting him pass.

"You," he said, his voice flat and cold, "Mother wants your blood."

Naruto frowned. The presence of this boy made his stomach twist, he could feel the seal burning on his skin. Whoever that was, he was bad news. According to the headband of jumpsuit-boy, he also was a ninja from Suna. They traded fine steel and rare gems, Muso and Naruto often went out of their way to find a merchant that sold them.

"Unless you have weapons that need be taken care of, I have nothing else to give you." Deeming his words were enough, Naruto brushed past the red head. Intending to enter the room at the end of the hallway, were his current workshop was, he kept walking despite the feeling of a pair of eyes burning a hole into the back of his skull. The farther away from the boy he got, the less he could feel the damn seal, so Naruto increased his pace.

"I will have your blood! Mother will have it!" the boy shouted but made no attempt to follow him and the three Suna nin kept walking down the hallway.

Inside of his workshop, he found a familiar face, well, what he could see of it anyways. The guy who had waited in the entrance hall with Kurenai stood at the counter, nose buried in a book, one eye and lower face hidden behind headband and mask. Wondering how he got in her so fast but then chalking it up to ninja stuff, Naruto took a seat behind the counter and waited for the man to say something. But the man said nothing. After while, Naruto sighed. "Can I help you?" he asked.

Without looking up from the book he answered, "No. I'm quite fine," and continued reading.

Naruto nearly gaped at him. What the hell was this guy doing here? Before he could shout at the man to bugger off, the door opened. A girl Naruto knew, Tenten, strode inside, her clothes having seen better days and the twin buns on her head never were messier. Without a word of greeting she walked up to him and slammed several scrolls onto the counter.

"Repair, please!"

Naruto smirked. She had always placed her weapons higher on her priority list than most other things. "Sure Tenten. But you do need to unseal them. Can't do that, I'm an artisan not a ninja." Naruto noticed them silver haired man twitch but ignored it. While Naruto could very well unseal them on his own, it was somewhat illegal for civilians to be able to use combat related scrolls. Even if it were just storage scrolls.

She huffed and swiped several scrolls open, unsealing a myriad of weapons onto the counter. The wood groaned under the weight of a good dozen of heavy steel weapons and Naruto had jumped back in order not to be run through by a stray blade. "There, now please?" Tenten gave him puppy eyes and let her lips tremble.

Lifting the remains of what once must have been a scythe, he raised an eyebrow at the melted blade. "What did you do out there with all these weapons?"

Tenten crossed her arms before he chest. "Well excuse me but someone had to kill the acid leech!"

"Ah," was all the response Naruto made. Thinking about all the seriously deadly stuff out in the forest made him worry even more about Hinata. Shaking his head, he went to work, hoping to forget his worries.

He didn't notice when Tenten left, so engrossed he was, repairing the good dozen of weapons. But it didn't have the desired effect on him. His mind circled around the singular fear that something would happen to Hinata. Naruto knew that they had about two or three days to reach the tower and the first day wasn't even halfway over yet, but that didn't help his distressed mind. He knew that people died in these exams. The thought made him shudder.

The first day ended without Hinata arriving, and Naruto found himself unable to sleep that night. After tossing and turning for about and hour, he had enough and sneaked though the hallways of the quarters towards the mess hall. He was only mildly surprised to find Kurenai there as well.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked before he even walked into her field of vision.

He gave a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, I suppose you couldn't either, ya know..." Naruto frowned. When did the verbal tic return?

Kurenai shook her head. "No, not at all." She sighed and dropped the chopsticks back onto the tablet. "I have faith in them, I really do, and after Hinata got as good as she is now with your weapons I'm a hundred percent certain they can make it but..."

"That doesn't make the waiting any easier, does it?" Naruto said, sitting down besides her. Kurenai could hum in agreement.

The second day was very uneventful until Kakashi briskly walked past Naruto in the direction of the entrance. After he had stood inside the workshop for an hour, Naruto got annoyed and demanded his name, which he actually gave him. Curious and not having anything better to do, he followed the ninja.

Two familiar and dirty faces greeted him there.

The weird black mop of hair upon the boys head clearly indicated him as one Sasuke Uchiha, who looked like hell, clutching his neck with on hand just above the shoulder. The pink hair and overly loud voice identified the girl as Sakura Haruno, whose arms were covered in bandages as she limped behind Sasuke. The third member of the team, Naruto didn't recognize and he didn't bother taking a closer look at the brown haired boy. He saw Kakashi talking with Sasuke, looking at something at the boys neck before his head snapped into his direction, a thoughtful look on his face. He strode over to him, dragging Sasuke after him.

"Naruto, I need you to seal something for me," Kakashi said.

The boy blinked. How could he know about that? He and Muso didn't really keep it a secret but they also didn't broadcast it. That meant that, either Kakashi knew someone who owned a weapon of the forge master or he had one himself.

"Seal what?" he asked eventually. It wouldn't do a civilian any good to lie to a ninja. That too was an offense in Konoha.

With a head motion, he beckoned Naruto to follow him. Shrugging, he followed Kakashi and Sasuke, who still seemed very much out of it. They arrived in a big circular room with a circle of seals in the middle. From what Naruto could see they acted as a suppressor for whatever you intended to seal and amplified the seal used. Kakashi pushed Sasuke into the circle were he heavily sat down. The jonin motioned for Naruto to come closer.

"This," he said, pointing at the seal on Sasuke's neck," is a curse mark. It floods the body with foreign chakra, nature chakra, whenever they get agitated to a certain degree. It also messes with you mind. Therefore I need you to seal it."

Naruto studied the small black seal for a moment before looking back at Kakashi. "You want him to keep that? I could just remove it, ya know?"

The silver haired man gaped at him, it even was visible though the mask. "You... you can remove that?" he questioned.

Naruto shrugged and reached into his gray jacket. He pulled a circular piece of metal out, about as big as his palm and resembled a big metal stamp, and a long metal pin that could be mistaken for a pencil. Kakashi watched as Naruto engraved the metal piece with symbols that he wasn't familiar with. They were incredibly tiny and together they formed one big symbol. It vaguely resembled 'freedom' but then again, it seemed to be a different language all together and could mean just about anything.

Apparently, Naruto was finished. He placed a hand above the symbol and hummed lowly and melodically albeit tunelessly. His hand glowed ever so slightly, Kakashi had nearly missed it, and without further ado, he slammed the metal piece like a stamp into Sasuke's exposed neck. The boy yelped in surprise, the yelp turned into a scream of pain as the metal burned into his skin. It was over after about one second, leaving Sasuke panting on his hands and knees but the curse mark was gone, only smooth skin was left behind.

"What... was that?" Kakashi asked slowly.

Again, Naruto shrugged. "Trade secret." With that, he moved to leave the room, but halted in the doorway.

He may have really messed up there. While Muso never hid that he used advanced seals in his craft, he did hide the fact that he used runes, the ancient symbols that had long since been forgotten. Muso had brought them along from his home far to the north. A family heirloom, he had told Naruto. It wasn't as if he couldn't have removed the mark with regular seals, but it may have killed Sasuke, and he really didn't want the village elders on his case.

"I ask you to tell anybody who asked that I used a complex 78 letter seal to undo the mark. Please."

Kakashi was silent for a while and looked at the unconscious Sasuke. "I will," he said and picked up his student. He left without glancing back, as if Naruto had never been there in the first place. The blonde sighed and returned to his workshop.

Naruto met Sasuke and his team later that day in the mess hall. Because there weren't anymore tables free, Naruto sat down in front of Sasuke. His eyes widened slightly, he had recognized him, but he didn't do anything but give a curt nod which Naruto returned. Their strange understanding still seemed to exist.

"Oh my god! Naruto!" Naruto winced, Sakura was as loud as ever.

"Yeah, hi there," he said lamely and continued eating his meal.

"What are you doing here?!" she shouted at him. Naruto sighed. She didn't change at all, it seemed but Naruto wouldn't judge by first impressions. After all, she had made it through the forest.

Putting down his chopsticks, he said, "I am here as arms mender and artisan. I repair your weapons and supply you with kunai, basic clothes and stuff." To tell the truth, he did not want to talk to the girl, but he couldn't exactly run away at the sight of her. Or could he? Wasn't there a seal that...?

"You- you have a job!?" The very thought seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

He rolled his eyes, kami above why was she here? "Yes," he simply said. There just _had_ to be a rune for...

"No! I mean-.. We thought you were dead or something!" she amended quickly.

He continued to eat, avoiding to look at her. "Well, I'm not. Surprise." Naruto thought he had caught Sasuke smirk as Sakura fumed at him, albeit quietly.

Dinner continued and just before Naruto made to stand up, Sasuke spoke up. "You mend weapons, right?" Quickly overcoming his initial shock, he nodded. Sasuke continued, "Can you fix my windmill shurikens then? I broke quite a few."

Naruto grinned. "Sure, Sasuke." He had intentionally forgone calling him 'teme", he thought himself too old for dumb nicknames.

Standing as well, the Uchiha said, "Lead the way, Naruto," and the two boys left both Sakura and the still nameless third guy behind.

"You have changed," Sasuke remarked as they walked down the hallways, "aside from the lack of orange."

Naruto nearly tripped. "Did you just crack joke? Hell, you changed even more so!" Sasuke just harrumphed in response.

"Well, maybe not," Naruto chuckled.

They entered the workshop and Naruto found familiar sight. "Kami above! _Leave_ you kami damned maniac! What is your problem?!"

Kakashi didn't react, instead, he just flipped a page in his book. Naruto bristled, but moved past him and behind the counter were he sat down heavily.

Scratching the back of his head, he sighed. "Well, lemme see your shuriken. I if they can't be repaired, I can replace them, ya know."

The shurikens were in a right state. Blunted, cracked and some parts were even corroded to some degree. One of them even had teeth marks, as if a snaked had bitten down on it. Hard. The marks nearly went through the solid steel.

"Hate to say, but you'd be better off with a new set, Sasuke. What did you throw these at?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shuddered. "Snake," he stated flatly, the Uchiha didn't want to talk about the encounter with Orochimaru.

Naruto raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Instead, he walked over to one of the many tall cupboards that stood against the wall behind the counter. He opened the tallest of them and Sasuke got a look at many, oh so many throwing weapons stored away inside. Intentionally or not, while Naruto rummaged through his stock he threw some of the weapons aside, or more accurately, at Kakashi. The man avoided everything without moving from his spot but his eyes, and Sasuke's, widened when a huge ass spear with a blade as big as Sasuke's torso soared towards him. Using the substitution jutsu, Kakashi switched places with a big tower shield that had leaned against a wall. The metal shield lit up like a street light as the spear sent millions of volt through it and was driven into the stolid stone wall. Kakashi gawked at the hole in the wall and the spear sticking out of it.

"Here you go," Naruto said as if nothing had ever happened and handed Sasuke a wooden crate.

"Thanks... I guess," Sasuke told him as he too looked at the spear in the wall.

"Now, do you mind taking your sensei with you? I can't have too many holes in my walls and with him here I can't make any promises." Naruto sauntered over to the weapon and gave it a sharp tug, ripping it out of the stone.

"What in the wold is this spear?" Sasuke asked as Naruto stowed the weapon away.

"Oh, yeah, that's not a spear but a glaive, to be exact. The biggest one I made. About half a year ago? Hmm... well, the thunder rune surely lasted..." Naruto was by now talking to himself as he inspected the weapon.

"You mean... you made this?" Sasuke asked in a carefully neutral tone.

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, I did. Just because I didn't make it as ninja, doesn't mean I can't do anything else. The old man took me in and taught me all there was to know and he isn't even finished yet."

Sasuke ignored the bitter remark. "Old man?"

"Yeah, Muso, the artisan out in the-," Naruto was cut of by Sasuke dropping the crate. "Hey, they may not break from that but don't drop 'em like that."

Sasuke picked the crate back up before looking intensely at Naruto. "You... were taught by Muso, the forge master?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto closed the cupboard and sat down behind the counter again. "Yeah, sure. What's with that?"

Sasuke shook his head. He would need to let that sink. "No, nothing, thanks for the replacement." He left with a thoughtful expression.

Kakashi wasn't surprised, after all, he had been the first to see Naruto after he vanished from his apartment when he picked up the armored vests for anbu. What did surprise him was the skill Naruto had in handling these weapons. If the throws had been stronger, he would have been a pincushion before long. The accuracy was deadly and the power behind the thrown glaive had been immense. Not for the first time the silver haired ninja had to wonder just why Naruto wasn't allowed to become a ninja. Something wasn't right. Kakashi left, intending to get some answers from the Hokage.

On the third day team 8 finally arrived. Battered and bruised they hobbled inside the tower where they were greeted by Kurenai and instructed to rest and get their gear repaired by the artisan in the tower.

Never in all her live Hinata had been happier to take a long hot bath. She soaked in the water for hours, scrubbing of the grime and blood the forest had left her with. Stepping outside of the small bathroom into the equally small one-bed room she sorted through her clothes. She would need to replace them all, the armor padding took quite the hit and while Hinata wasn't really hurt beyond a bruise on her back, the armoring was through with, burned by a lightning strike. Kurenai had told them about an artisan that was here to mend and replace weapons and he would also have clothing available if needed. Yeah, her bows needed repairing, the shield took a huge hit and Hinata wasn't sure if the fireball it took had damaged anything too badly. It wouldn't do her well if she couldn't use it in the third part of the exam. She decided to find him after dinner. Hopefully, the artisan could repair her weapons, they were her most precious possession.

Naruto was going spare. He didn't find Kurenai anywhere and neither had he seen Kiba or Shino or any indication that Hinata was here. Kakashi would have known but he actually was with his team for once, but he didn't know that. Naruto was also unaware of the fact that team 8 was fast asleep in their rooms, rooms he was unable to enter for they were restricted to ninja and the medical personal. But as it had to happen some day, he came across the third Hokage, someone Naruto had thought he wouldn't ever see again, which was a very stupid thought, because the Hokage had invited him personally.

"Naruto." The older man's voice sent a lot of vivid memories of past encounters through Naruto's head. How he always told him of his dream and how he encouraged him in it. He was about to spin around and snap at the man, yell at him, asking him why he spoke to him only now, years after he had vanished. But the snarl faded from Naruto's lips when he saw just how old the man had become. Hiruzen was far from young, really, and even tough he had called him old man, Naruto did so as affectionate gesture. But now, the Hokage looked truly old. The wrinkles seemed to be permanently carved into his skin, the rings underneath his eyes were near black and his beard had whitened out completely. Aside from that, he seemed to slouch, dragging his feet heavily across the floor. Naruto swallowed his insults as he was reminded of just how hard the job of the Hokage was.

So he inclined his head, if only just barely. "Lord Hokage," he said, unable to meet the mans tired eyes. Hiruzen sighed and refrained from coming closer.

"I see you are doing good," the Hokage told him.

Naruto nodded. "I am fine, yes." The boy remained silent, unwilling to talk with his eyes anywhere but at Hiruzen.

The Hokage sighed again. He hadn't imagined meeting Naruto again as anything easy but this was just straight out awkward. Now he actually hoped for the boy to scream and shout at him as long as he would talk to him. Oh how he had failed him. He shook his head. Now his life was better, hopefully for quite some time before his burdens would drag him back down, back to him.

"Very well. I thank you for your work on behalf of this village." He swallowed thickly. "Fare well, Naruto."

He watched the Hokage walk away, his posture even worse than before, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. The Hokage could have done something, could have tested Naruto himself, could have allowed him another year in the academy but he didn't. He never even came to talk to him. It was an old wound, a wound Naruto had thought healed, but apparently, the fact that he had to give up on his dream, on his live as a ninja, still hurt deeply.

He stood there for a while, unable to really move away, before he shook his head and reminded himself of his job. Still deep in thought Naruto headed back to the workshop. As usual, Kakashi was there now, wherever he may have been before, standing before the fixed wall, reading his pervert book, letting of the occasional giggle. Grimacing and trowing his spare hammer at the man, Naruto sat down and waited. The newly arrived ninja would soon seek him out to repair their gear. Sadly, Naruto was only allowed to sell them standard weapons and armor, so not exactly the stuff he and Muso usually made. The glaive he had with him because... well, because he wanted to show it off. Anyhow, he needed work to take his mind of his encounter with the Hokage and more so of his worries over Hinata.

Naruto heard the door open and, not looking up from the material ledger, shouted, "Welcome, what can I do for-"

He was cut short when a mop of black hair shot over the counter right into his side. With a strangled yelp he hit the ground with the new weight atop him. He blinked in surprise and turned to face one teary faced Hinata. He didn't really get a chance to speak, she squeezed the living daylight right out of his lungs. He squirmed in her grasp until she loosened it just a bit.

"Hey there," he wheezed, "I was looking for you this morning! How come I didn't see you at dinner?" He frowned when she didn't smile back, she looked tired, not bodily but more in mind. How much he hated this forest right now!

Hinata seemed to snap out of it, pushing herself up into as sitting position on Naruto's stomach and blushed. The teen was relieved to see that she wasn't that much out of it. "I-I'm sorry!" she stuttered and scrambled of his person, "I was just..." Hinata suppressed the need to frown. Just needed to see him? Just needed some comfort after all the fighting and killing? She needed to cry her life out in his shoulder more likely. But she wouldn't, she didn't want to be weak. So she hopped to her feet, still struggling for words.

Naruto chuckled as he pushed himself of the floor. He was somewhat pleased that Kakashi had vacated the room as soon as Hinata entered. Maybe the man was actually decent? "Congrats, Hinata, on making it," he said, but Hinata didn't look all that happy.

"You know," he began, sitting down again and offering her a chair as well, "I talked to a lot of people here, all of them ninja. All of them knew what they were in for. All of them knew what this was about, even singed a waiver so they alone are to blame for what happens to them." Hinata looked at him but reacted little to what he said. "The thing is, whatever you had to do in that forest, Hinata, no one could blame you for it, no one would have the right, for they probably did things way worse than you. And whatever you did, I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't judge you by that." That seemed to have gotten her attention. "You are a ninja, and pretty soon chunin, so you didn't do anything wrong. It's... just your job. I... know how that feels..." Oh damn, he had blabbed there!

Hinata looked relieved, but thoughtful. Hopefully, she wasn't thinking about what he had said at the end.

Then she smiled. "Thank you, Naruto," she told him sincerely and it made his heart leap in circles. Remembering what she had come here for in the first place, she took her weapons of her person, careful not to damage them an her jacket.

"Ah!" Naruto exclaimed and hopped of his chair. He took the shield and unfolded it. He aimed at the door just as it opened. "Oh for the love of-! Why are you here?!" he shouted at Kakashi. The man shrugged and continued to read. Naruto's eyebrow twitched violently and he reached back to grab an arrow.

He had added an acceleration seal to the shield-bow before Hinata got the finished product so Kakashi never saw it coming. His book was ripped from his hand and shredded into a million pieces. The man frowned at his empty hand before he looked at Naruto with a look that said "Really?" before he simply produced an exact copy of the book that was just destroyed. Naruto's face hit the wooden counter with an audible _thud!_ before he started mending Hinata's bow.

It wasn't all that damaged, really, but it would do good to clean and readjust some things. The dent in the shield made him frown though. It had affected the blade inside so that definitely needed to be fixed. While he tinkered with the weapon, Hinata sat there and watched him. At some point, she handed him her second bow and watched him fix the chip in one of the dagger blades. She really liked to watch Naruto work. He was so focused, yet relaxed, totally at ease.

She was snapped out of it when the door swung open and another kunoichi entered the workshop. Her clothes looked relatively unaffected but her hair was a mess she had somehow managed to capture in a total of four ponytails. The big fan on her back looked like it had taken the biggest hits, singed as it was, and the sour look on her face indicated a really bad time in the forest. But hadn't Naruto seen her before? With the angry red head?

"You're the artisan?" she asked and Naruto nodded. The girl slammed her huge fan down onto the counter. "Can you mend this?"

Shrugging, Naruto looked it over. Did she hold it into a fire? There were several holes in the fan, rendering it nearly useless. He noted the chakra threads laced into the fan, specifically around the three violet circles on it. He studied it for some time more before he understood how it worked.

"You want me to just mend it or restore the lost chakra threading as well?" The question seemed to have caught her off guard. She really hadn't expected Naruto to be able to do that. Hinata told the girl, who introduced herself as Temari, that she was fine with waiting, so Naruto should go ahead and fix the fan first.

Temari was amazed by how fast and how accurately the needle moved in the artisans hand. He connected the served chakra threads and restored it to the exact same quality it had been before. After Naruto was finished, Temari was unable to tell where the holes had been exactly. Thanking him numbly, she left with her weapon.

"And here I thought she would be way more unpleasant," Naruto sighed and returned to working on Hinata's weapons.

Hinata's eyebrow twitched, not that anyone noticed, and she inched closer to Naruto. "You... know her?" she asked.

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when Hinata's voice was so close all of sudden. Taking a calming breath he answered, "Well, I passed by her team and the one with the red hair demanded my blood, so you could say I have seen her before but I don't really know her past the fan."

Nodding to herself and wondering were exactly the jealousy had come from, Hinata retreated to her previous seat. After a while, Naruto, who had been working silently, spoke up.

"Say... wanna grab a bite? I mean... later?" he asked, not looking at her.

The moment may have turned semi romantic for teenagers had Kakashi not giggled like a school girl just then. Naruto nearly blew a gasket. He threw hammer _and_ anvil at the man who, still giggling like some maniac, vacated the room, avoiding the projectiles. Breathing heavily, Naruto retrieved the tools, set them back in place and slapped a poster that read "Hang in there!" over the hole in the wall before sitting back down. After another second or so, he turned to Hinata again.

"So?" he asked and Hinata found herself blinking, then blushing and then nodding rapidly with a meek "Hai!" that got lost inbetween her rapid head movements.

"That's great!" Naruto shouted before looking sheepishly at her, clearing his throat. "Yeah, great... so, when are you gonna be at the mess hall?"

Safe to say, Hinata skipped the halls with a spring in her step. She had nearly tripped on the way out and nearly left her gear behind, not to mention she had nearly forgotten to buy some standard ninja attire. It was a simple gray hoodie, which looked like Naruto's by coincidence, and standard navy blue pants with sandals. Naruto told her he would have gotten her padded armor but he wasn't allowed to sell give away specialized gear. He had tried to mend Hinata's old clothes but the armoring was truly ruined and Naruto spent half an hour trying to find out who had done that. When sh eventually admitted that he was dead, he didn't react at all, said he shouldn't have messed with her then. For some reason, she felt better because of that.

Somehow, the matches had been disappointing. Sasuke just rolled over that one guy and Sakura just punched Ino once and it was over. Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his head. After a delightful if slightly awkward dinner, Naruto had managed to track down Kurenai and got permission to be at the stands for the preliminaries. And now, he waited for Hinata's turn all the while glaring daggers at the other Hyuuga in the arena. Neji Hyuuga was, according to Hinata, her cousin and did not like her one bit, loathed her even. He seemed hell bent on ridiculing her every time he got the chance. He made Naruto's blood boil and he had to take 23 deep breaths before he stopped thinking about shoving every arrow he had made for Hinata up Neji's arse.

When Naruto wasn't glaring at Neji or admiring Hinata, he tried not to squirm under the glare he got from across the arena. The red head from Suna did nothing but try and burn a hole into Naruto with his gaze alone. He was startled when Kurnai gasped besides him.

 _Hinata vs Hyuuga Neji_

Ah, the irony.

"Show him, Hinata!" he shouted down to her. She returned a weak smile and he could see her clenching the bowstring above her chest.

Hayate, the proctor of the exams, stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for Hinata to get ready while Neji already stood on his other side, sneering at Hinata with disdain.

"Ready?" Hayate called out and Hinata readied the shield on her arm, falling into a stance not unlike Neji's but her feet weren't as stiffly positioned as his and her arms she held lower than he did. That seemed to make Neji even angrier. They both nodded at Hayate.

"Begin!"

Neji exploded from his position rushing straight at Hinata, one arm drawn back as wide as he could. It seemed to Naruto that he intended to end this with one clean hit.

But Hinata knew him too well to be surprised or even faced by the fact that he tried to kill her. Neji came to halt in fron of her but his palm shot forward at her chest. Hinata brought the shield up and caught the blow full force. She was lifted of the ground and flew backwards. While Neji smirked at his display of power he failed to notice that Hinata had let him force her away.

She unfolded her bow and suddenly, Neji didn't smirk anymore. He hadn't bothered to activate his Byakugan before but now it was absolutely necessary.

Hinata never touched the ground. From the quver at her side she had drawn an arrow with two sharp ends and held it horizontally beneath her feet whilst still in the air. The arrow exploded as soon as her chakra touched the little mechanism inside and a metal wire shot from each end, lodging itself into the walls of the arena. She stood on the wire and without missing a beat, she pulled more arrows out of the quiver. Naruto smirked when he saw what she intended to do.

The arrows with the cross shaped head started to rain down on Neji. The boy avoided every single one of them but Hinata had expected that.

"Is that all?" he shouted at her. "Pathetic! Come down here and fight!" He jumped only to be jerked back violently, as if he had hit an invisible wall. "What the-!" There was a thin cut across his chest, bleeding slightly.

"First blood," Naruto whispered.

Neji's eyes narrowed as he poured more chakra into his eyes. Then he gasped, looking around himself in disbelief.

The cross shaped arrow heads worked exactly like the arrow Hinata had used to stretch the wire she stood on. The moment the arrows hit the ground or were deflected by Neji they would send out wires so thin they weren't visible to the naked eye and even the Byakugan would have had difficulties spotting something so thin. Neji stood in the middle of a forest of wires, spanning around him, encircling him like the trees.

"Welcome to _my_ forest of death, Neji," Hinata said with a confidence in her voice no one but Naruto and Kurenai ever got to hear. She folded the bow back to the shield and reverently pulled the long bow of her back, holding it before her. "Let's do this," she told her self, "No weakness!"

Neji didn't have the time to blink before and arrow _pierced_ his upper left thigh, drilling into the solid stone beneath. He snarled, refusing to scream out in obvious pain. Instead, he dodged the next arrow and threw a kunai at Hinata who simply swayed to the left a little, not breaking her aim and released another arrow. Neji made to sidestep the arrow but ran into the wires. Cursing, he pressed his body into the sharp metal and the arrow only grazed his shoulder.

"That's enough!" he shouted and drew and arm back. **"Eight Triagrams Air Palm!"** Neji roared and released a blast of compressed air against Hinata.

The wires that had been in the way snapped or were ripped out of their holding place in the wall as Hinata was forced to jump sideways on her wire, which thankfully held fast. Neji followed the path of his technique and landed on the wire as well and engaged Hinata in close combat. She was at a disadvantage against him. Without the shield, she would have been done for.

Neji swiped her palm strike aside, sending chakra into her wrist as he did so. Hinata winced and jumped back. In under a second, her long bow had shrunken down to reveal the long dagger inside it. With dagger and shield, she managed to hold herself. Neji's wounded leg took his toll as he failed to preposition it fast enough on the fin wire and he slipped backwards. Instantly, Hinata's foor dug into his unguarded chest as she used him to catapult herself into the air, her long bow once again in hand. Neji's eye widened when she fired three arrows at once at him.

Twisting midair, he managed to avoid two of them but once lodged itself into his side. He grunted in pain as he hit the ground, rolling to lessen the impact but before he could stand straight again, lightning crackled though his body. Writhing in pain he swiped at the arrow in his side, dislodging it from his body along with a lot of blood.

He was breathing heavily, trying to regain his equilibrium. "Give up, Neji," he heard Hinata say from somewhere above him, "That was the non lethal version."

"NEVER!" he roared and suddenly disappeared from where he had stood. Hinata's eyes widened and she whirled around but it was too late already.

 **"** **Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!"**

Hinata chocked on her scream as she was blown across the arena and hit the wall with crushing force, being driven hard inside it.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted, nearly hopping over the railing, but Kurenai haled him back.

Neji dropped of the wire like a sack of stones, hitting the ground hard. Still, he pushed himself to his feet and sneered at Hinata's direction, his Byakuugan still active. He swung clumsily to the left, the arrow jut grazing his cheek.

Hinata dropped out of the hole in the wall onto her knees, breathing heavily. Never had she imagined Neji would use the body flicker technique or any technique that wasn't gentle first. Her insides had taken a brutal hit, the chakra he had driven inside her stomach had caused multiple internal bleeding and she as sure she had broken at least two ribs.

Shakily, she stood and approached Neji, who likewise limped towards her.

"Maybe... I have... misjudged your... strength," he wheezed, holding his side.

Hinata said nothing, only standing straighter as she dropped the long bow and extended the katar from the shield, readying herself.

"But...," he continued, "That doesn't... change... that you're in... range...!" Hinata's eyes widened and she started to move at the same moment Neji did.

 **"Eight Triagrams-!"**

 **"Ninpo: Flower Shield!"**

Neji exploded into motion, his palm shooting forward at unrivaled speed an hit-

He missed his target. His strike was stopped.

Hinata, while relying on her weapons, was not ignorant enough to lay all of her hopes into them. She had learned several jutsu, including water elemental jutsu and the dew medical ones she was able to use. But most importantly, she created three jutsu of her own making. One being the flower shield.

It was unnecessary for her to hold a shield to use the technique, but it certainly didn't do any harm. When using the flower shield, Hinata forced a mass of chakra out of her palm, just like a gentle first strike, but Hinata manipulated the expelled chakra to form a big, opaque shield before her. Because it was as big as she was, she could only maintain it for two seconds before she would feel a drain. But in this case, she needed to only block one hit before she followed with her second technique.

Neji's palm was painfully repelled against the round, petal shaped shield in front of him. He hadn't expected that at all, but then again, Hinata had barely used any chakra before now.

Hinata let her hand be driven back from the impact on her shield, which immediately dissolved. She spun on her heel and readied her dagger mid rotation.

 **"Ninpo: Thorns of the Rose!"** Chakra coated the long dagger, the blood on Hinata's hand dissolved into it, staining the normally white technique red, as she slashed at Neji with all her might, aiming for his abdomen.

The technique would work with any blade she held or even just her hand, but the blade she had gotten from Naruto was inlaid with oricalcum, which greatly increased the strength of her attack. The name didn't originate from the slash, no, it was what would happen after the hit that earned the technique it's name. Should Hinata hit her target, no matter how shallow the cut, the chakra blade would immediately attach itself to the target and after Hinata formed a hand seal, the chakra would expand into the wound, piercing through the target, impaling it like a thorn.

But Neji had regained his bearings, shaking of the initial shock. Barely in time he managed to move his arm into the way of Hinata's strike. He jumped back but the cut was deep and he gasped in pain as he held the deep cut on his forearm. But Hinata wasn't about to let him go easily so she formed a simple hand seal before her face and at once, Neji screamed in pain as his arm, bone included was pierced by a spike of solid chakra.

Neji was at the verge of fainting, the blood loss had been enormous and he used a whole lot of chakra. His Byakugan deactivated on its on but he remained upright on his knees, clutching his ruined arm.

Coughing up blood, Hinata frowned as she swayed on her feet, struggling to remain standing.

Naruto was out of it. He wanted to go down there and deck that Neji guy so hard he wouldn't stand up ever again. But he simply continued to cheer on Hinata, she was strong enough to do it on her own, after all. "Go, Hinata! Take him out!" he shouted at her and she felt her heart swell in pride.

With a shaky breath she straightened, ignoring the pain, and walked forward, once again stowing her long bow away at her back. Out of her quiver she pulled the a poisonous arrow that would put Neji to sleep since she didn't want to kill him. She swayed slightly before his bleeding form. Hinata raised the arrow to stab it into his shoulder or arm, whatever she was capable of hitting.

But Neji wasn't finished yet. He whipped his good arm upwards, the palm facing Hinata, whose eyes widened and she moved to the side while raising her shield in fron of her. The arrow hit Neji's upper arm but he simply ignored it and shouted with all he had left: **"Eight Triagrams Air Palm!"**

The boys arm gave a sickening crack as the bone snapped from the backlash of the strike that barreled into Hinata's shield. With a muted scream, Hinata was thrown backwards, skidding along the floor until she hit the wall she had previously emerged from. The moment her body hit the wall, Neji hit the floor, unmoving and bleeding, the arrow still inside his upper arm.

Absolute silence hung in the arena while Hayate observed both downed contestant, waiting if one would rise again.

Naruto held his breath, stopped moving and stared at Hinata, willing her to rise, to win against this asshole of her cousin. Kurenai had chewed away the nails on both hands by now and Kiba, and even Shino, leaned over the railings waiting for Hinata to move.

Seconds trickled by and it seems as if they wouldn't attempt to stand again but the silence was broken by Hinata as she coughed lightly and rolled over onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling. Hayate, deeming that enough, raised an arm in Hinata's direction.

"Winner, Hinata!"

 **A/M:** There we go... 18k words. Not bad, if I dare say so myself. Feel free to tell me what you think, the story will continue a little past the chunin exams, invasion included. Maybe I'll even give you and Epilogue... We'll see. Actually... why not include Pain...?

Okay so, just so you can't argue about it, Naruto has an idea what his seal is about because he can read whats written on it, but he hasn't figured that one out yet, mainly because he loathes the thing and is pretty sure that the seal is why the villagers hate him, so he tries to ignore it.

I hope you like Mosu, he should gain some more extensive backstory by the next update. You'll also get some bromance with Naruto and Sasuke. Of course, if you don't like that, you won't. If you couldn't care less about Mosu's backstory, please, let me know. Otherwise I'd waste my time and we wouldn't want that, would we?


	2. Chapter 2

**Not a Ninja**

 **Cruel is the Wait**

At some point during his wait, Naruto wondered if the clock had stopped moving. Time was dragging on so slowly, it reminded him of one of Iruka's history lessons. The waiting room was empty safe for him, the rest of team 8 and Kurenai. No one was there for Neji, not even his team. Then again, Lee was heavily wounded and Tenten probably was with him. Lee was already out of the OP rooms and was transferred into another wing.

Hinata's condition was bad. Her internal injuries caused by the invasion of foreign chakra extended into her lung far more than it had seemed at first.

Her heart had stopped twice. _Twice!_

The doctors managed to stabilize her, if only barely, but were unsure if she would wake any time soon. Currently, the surgeons were correcting her ribs and healing her lung. Apparently, the personnel at the hospital wasn't quite as proficient as they had been years ago, when Tsunade had pushed the medical education. Of course that stopped when she left.

The door swung open and Naruto was on his feet faster than Kurenai managed to look up. He didn't manage to hide his disappointment when not a doctor but Muso entered. The Forge Master had covered for his apprentice when Hinata was brought into the hospital. The second task was now over, all matches had been concluded. Hinata would have to fight Sakura. _If_ she recovered, but Muso was going to withhold that piece of thought from his troubled charge.

"How is she?" Muso asked into the room.

Naruto sank back down into his chair. "Stable. For... for now...," he said, his last words muffled by his hands.

The old man grit his teeth. "And they can't...?"

"No," Naruto responded flatly. "Not without this Tsunade-woman they talked about."

Finding the situation already depressing enough, Muso remained silent and sat down at Naruto's side. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "She will be fine," he told him, "She's a fighter. Believe in her." But Naruto didn't look convinced. He tightened his hold on the shoulder and Naruto looked up at him.

"Naruto. _Believe_ in Hinata," Muso said firmly.

The tiniest hint of a smile appeared in Naruto's face. "Aye, I think I will."

"We all do," Kurenai said with a tiny smile, both Kiba and Shino nodded at him.

In the following week, Hinata's condition did neither improve nor did it get any worse. The nurses and doctors wouldn't stop complaining about Naruto's constant presence in the hallway of Hinata's room but he wasn't about to leave or give them the satisfaction of success. He wasn't allowed inside the room, only Kurenai could enter and they forbade her from bringing _it_ inside.

At some point, Muso had enough of the farce and sent a message with the anbu that collected the armors. It was the end of the first week after Hinata's hospitalization when the Hokage strode through the halls of the hospital straight to Naruto.

The boy didn't even look up when Hiruzen sat down besides him.

"You have permission to enter her room," he said, "as long as Kurenai is inside with you."

He had expected Naruto to jump and cry in joy but none of that happened. Instead, the blonde looked up at the old Hokage with defeated eyes and a frown, that was seemingly etched into his face.

"But that won't heal her, will it?" he whispered, so lowly, Hiruzen nearly missed it. "She may never wake up again."

The Hokage looked at the door to Hinata's room, some doctors were inside with Kurenai. "No, it wouldn't," he told Naruto, "And yes, she may never wake up again." He could see Naruto tense at his words and sighed. "There is one person I know of who is capable of healing her..."

"Tsunade," Naruto said, but there was no hope whatsoever in his voice.

"Yes, Tsunade could heal her."

"But she isn't here, old man," Naruto pressed through clenched teeth. "It doesn't help to know what she could do if she isn't here to _fucking do it!_ " He took a deep, calming breath and sagged down in his chair.

The old Hokage stared at Naruto with a thoughtful frown for some time. Finally, he sighed. "I plan on sending for her, have her return to the village." Suddenly, Naruto sat up ramrod straight, but he didn't make a sound. "I'm getting old and she is the best choice for my successor. When she returns, I will see to it that she comes by here, to treat Hinata." The doctors exited the room and gave not too subtle glares in Naruto's direction. It was Hiruzen who glared right back.

"And when will that be?" Naruto dared himself to ask in a shaky voice.

"Whenever Jiraiya finds her and convinces her to return," the Hokage answered.

"Has he left already?"

"No, he-"

"Then let me go with him!" Naruto jumped of his chair and faced the Hokage, a fire shone in his eyes that Hiruzen had thought extinguished.

"You are not a ninja, I cannot-," he began but was cut of by an angry snarl from Naruto.

"I'm very well aware of that fact, _Lord Hokage_ ," he spat the title, "but I am very much able to look after myself! Let me go with this Jiraiya! I need to make sure that Tsunade comes here as soon as possible!"

For a long time, the Hokage said nothing. "Fine," he sighed, "Await word later today. Ready yourself, Jiraiya will leave tomorrow at daybreak."

Naruto nodded and hurried into Hinata's room, again absent was his once joyful, energetic nature and it made the Hokage's heart ache.

Had he done the right thing?

 **The** **Free Bird**

Hinata was covered in a big white blanket up to her chin, where the respiratory mask began. Countless tubes appeared from under the blanket and snaked their way to the many IV bags that surrounded her bed. Kurenai was asleep in a chair to Hinata's left, dark bags under her eyes. But what caught Naruto's attention was the silver bracelet on Hinata's nightstand.

Naruto had crafted many things since started to live with Muso and to this day, after nearly four years, he had crafted only one thing that wasn't intended to be used in a fight. This bracelet, it was completely cosmetic. Not even the headband Hinata wore was normal, it was designed to disrupt the seal on her forehead so the main family could not use it on her.

The silver bracelet had a bird engraved into it, a _free_ bird, because she would never be chained down, never be put into a cage by anyone anymore. It was a statement that had prompted Naruto to gift her the bracelet for her birthday. That had been about four months ago, he had given it to her blushing and bubbling but with the promise that she would ace the exam and throttle them all, that she would show her clan that she was stronger, that she had no need for their teachings.

Had his gift driven Hinata to get herself into this trauma induced coma? Was all of this pain his fault? After all, Hinata had told him that she wasn't sure if she should enter the exams at all. And what did he do? He bloody encouraged her! And here she lay, broken and beaten, because he had pushed her into this. It was his fault! _His fault!_ He should have drowned that day! Should never have talked to her! He was worthless! Scum! _Monster! DEMON! **DIE!**_

"Naruto?"

He jerked, blinking rapidly against the tears that stung in his eyes. He removed his hand from the deformed metal railing of the bed and winced at the stinging in his palm and forearm. When did that happen? Naruto took a cautious step back, unaware of the scorch marks his feet had left on the ground. He looked at the now awake Kurenai.

He smiled weakly at her. "They finally let me in," he said and took the chair next to her.

Her tired eyes briefly lingered on the bent metal an the burnt floor but she said nothing about it. "I see," she said instead and sunk back into the chair. Had she imagined it or was there a red aura around Naruto when she had opened her eyes?

She didn't have time to ponder about it. A lot of commotion was heard from outside of the door. And angry voice, probably the annoying doctor of the ward, was shouting at someone but got no audible response that Kurenai and Naruto could hear. Suddenly the door was shoved open and five robed man long brown hair and a young girl with equally brown hair entered the room. They didn't need to introduce themselves, the Byakugan did that just fine.

They surveyed the room with mild disinterest but when their eyes fell upon Hinata's still form, they wrinkled their noses. Kurnei shot out of her chair and stood between them and her charge.

"What do you seek, Hiashi?" she asked in a cold tone. "You are not allowed here."

The man didn't answer, it was one of the others behind him. "The clan head has come to survey the shame that the failure has brought us once again," he sneered with his voice, face remaining impassive. Naruto gave a low growl and stood closer to Hinata's side.

Kurenai clenched her fists. Any sign of fatigue was gone from her. She looked absolutely livid.

"Lord Hyuuga," she growled. "I ask you to leave the room of _my_ charge right this moment!" She took a step forward. "You have no business with Hinata _Yuhi_ , are we clear?"

Hiashi didn't look impressed. Instead he stared past the angry ninja and at his former daughter's still form. After a few seconds, his head inched ever so slightly in the direction of his entourage.

"Leave," he barked and the men jumped, immediately obeying the order, leaving the girl behind.

As soon as the other Hyuuga vanished, Hiashi deflated and a deep frown of worry appeared in his formerly stoic face. "How bad is it?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

Kurenai didn't seem surprised by the change in demeanor. "Very," was her curt response before she fell back into her chair.

"Anything we can do?" Hiashi asked, a bit louder this time.

"Nothing I'm aware of," Kurenai sighed and buried her face in her hands.

Naruto frowned. Wasn't this Hinata's father? The man that had caused her so much grief? Hiashi's eyes met Naruto's and he seemed to read the question in his stare.

"It was not my choice to exile her. The elders forced my hand. Had I not driven her away, she would have been doomed to a live of servitude in the branch family." Hiashi shook his head and looked at the young girl besides him. "Now I can only hope that Hanabi can do what Hinata couldn't."

Hinata's sister, or so Naruto guessed, walked to her sister's bed and peered at the unconscious form of Hinata.

"Will sister be okay?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly. Naruto could see that she strained her face to remain impassive. Gritting his teeth Naruto took a calming breath and moved to Hinata's nightstand. He took the bracelet and crouched besides Hanabi. She peered curiously at the silver he held out to her.

"I want you to hold onto that for your sister. When she wakes up you can give it to her," Naruto said, "Can you do that for your sister?"

Hanabi accepted the bracelet and nodded, pressing the silver band into her chest.

Kurenai raised a questioning eyebrow at Naruto, as did Hiashi.

"Tomorrow I'll leave the village," Naruto explained, "together with some other ninja and look for Tsunade." Kurenai nearly flew out of her chair as she heard the name. "The Hokage wants her as his successor but he promised to have her come by here first thing."

Hiashi released a shuddering breath and his face became impassive again. "I beg of you, bring Tsunade here. I will be forever in your debt," he said and bowed low to Naruto. After a second or so, so did Hanabi.

Naruto looked at Hinata, steel in his eyes. "Of course I will."

 **Journey**

As promised, a silver haired anbu that could only have been Kakashi, delivered a small scroll with the location Naruto would meet Jiraiya. He was packing his supplies and equipment, the same stuff he packed when he and Muso went mining, when a familiar mop of black hair showed up in the forge.

"Sasuke," he greeted him. "Was there anything you needed?" His voice still sounded defeated but it wasn't as bad as it had been at the hospital.

"I'm commin with," the Uchiha said and Naruto turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. "Yeah, don't look at me like that. It's so you can teach me a thing or two about using a sword. And I may be of some help finding Tsunade." He indicated his eyes.

"Oh... Well, come along then..." Naruto shrugged and shouldered his bag. Both teens were unaware that Danzo had suggested the trip to Hiruzen in order for Sasuke to be trainer by a legendary Sannin.

They walked through the village in relative silence until Sasuke spoke up.

"Is she that bad?"

"Mhm," Naruto grunted back.

"I see... Then we better hurry, huh?"

"Aye, we better."

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, you do know she won't give up that fast, don't you?"

"Of course I know that!" Naruto bit out.

"I've seen her fight, seen her train. If anyone can keep going right now its her, so don't beat yourself up like that and believe in her."

"What's it with you people and believing...," he muttered but he walked notably straighter afterwards. Sasuke smirked at his success, a smirk that vanished when Naruto asked him something entirely different.

"So, you like Sakura, right?"

Sasuke nearly fell over.

"W-What are-... Why do-..." he sputtered before clearing his throat. "Why would you think that?" Sasuke asked in his typically emotionless voice.

Now it was Naruto's time to smirk. "I saw you looking at her, don't deny it."

Sasuke opened his mouth several times without managing a word. Finally he sighed. "She changed...," he mumbled into his high collar.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at him. "Really? Sounded as loud as ever to me."

"And here I thought you were the observant one," Sasuke shot back.

"Don't try and change topic, Sasuke!"

"Fine! Yes, I do think I like her! Happy?"

"Not really," Naruto sighed. "But I'd be if we can get Tsunade here as fast as possible..."

Sasuke shoved his shoulder. "Then get moving, Naruto," he called as he sprinted ahead and jumped up onto the rooftops.

"Hey!" the blonde shouted, "Using chakra is so not fair!"

In no time whatsoever, the two boys arrived at the city gate. It didn't take much searching to find the man called Jiraiya. If the white hair wasn't an indication for someone special, then the scroll on his back and the wooden sandals did the trick.

"He's old," Naruto deadpanned.

"That he is," Sasuke agreed.

The man with the long white hair was currently talking to a merchant. A female cloth merchant with a distinctively deep neckline at which he not so subtly ogled.

"He's a pervert," Sasuke stated.

"He is indeed," Naruto agreed.

Jiraiya's head whipped around and he fixed a strangely ineffective glare at them before sprinting up to them.

"I am NOT a pervert!" he bellowed at them.

Sasuke crossed his arms before him. "But you-"

He never finished the sentence because as he spoke, Jiraja rose to his full height. With a gleam in his eyes he inhaled deeply and both Naruto and Sasuke took a step back.

"I'M A SUPER PERVERT!" he hollered at them loud enough for the whole village to hear. Naruto and Sasuke frowned the man. Both teens knew that this guy would never get within ten feet of Hinata/Sakura. They locked eyes for a second and both knew of their secondary objective on this mission: Kill the damn pervert.

"So, you're Jiraiya then?" Naruto asked the man that still struck a ridiculous pose.

"Indeed, Blondie, I am the great toad sage, Jiraiya!"

"Yeah whatever, lets get this over with," Naruto said and walked past the gates with Sasuke, leaving the sage behind.

"Oi... Oi! Wait for me you brats!"

They were walking for a while now and Naruto was getting nervous. It was going north, because that's were Tsunade was supposed to be, and the street was all too familiar to the young artisan. He and Muso came by every two months or so on their way to the Black Mines where they would gather their resources. And they always, each and every time, had trouble with bandits. But not just some thugs, no, it was a known gang of highly proficient mercenaries and former soldiers. It was unclear if any ninja were among them. The Black Army, they called themselves.

They were a major problem in the north, funding themselves by raiding villages nearby and most of all through their claim to the Black Mines, the place Naruto and Muso needed to go to for their special metals. Sadly, it was the only mine in all of the Land of Fire that had black chakra metal, the purest iron and platinum, silver of the highest quality and, to a small degree, oricalcum. So it was the perfect mining place. Aside from the silver and the iron, others had no use for the materials, but a Forge Master? It was absolutely necessary to go there. And that meant going past the Black Army.

A hand on Naruto's shoulder had the boy flinch violently and he had nearly drawn a blade from a pouch. Regaining his composure, he looked at Sasuke who signaled for him to be silent and hide. The Uchiha had already drawn a kunai and Jiraiya in front of them tensed visibly.

Naruto grit his teeth. They were here.

Pulling a scroll out of his bag, Naruto unsealed a simple sword. "Let's get this over with," he mumbled and slid of the road with Sasuke. They hid behind the trees, Jiraiya had already disappeared from sight.

"Why we we doin' this patrol again?" a loud drawl echoed over the empty road.

"Cause the old man and his damn kid might be back soon!" another voice responded.

"These bastards killed at least five dozen of us until now!" a third voice snarled angrily. "I lost an eye to the blonde brat!"

Naruto tensed. He knew who that was. A skilled sword fighter, tall, bald and, since their last visit, missing his left eye. Gouged out by the hilt of Naruto's dagger. The young artisan had really believed that one dead but apparently the asshole was tougher than he looked. As silent as a shadow Jiraiya appeared besides them. "Lets do this fast," he whispered, "One hit, one kill." Both boys nodded and readied themselves.

It was all over in a flash. Two kunai felled the bandits at the one-eyed's side who didn't even manage to move before a blade pierced through his heart from behind.

"Let's move on," Jiraiya said as he stepped onto the road again. He gave Naruto an unreadable look before walking ahead, Sasuke close behind. But Naruto didn't follow. He bent down to each of the dead and closed their eyes before following the others.

Jiraiya frowned. He did that a lot lately. It began when he had been informed that Naruto, his _godson_ , was banned from the academy. About a month later, the Hokage informed him that Naruto was no longer in the apartment he payed with his own money. Jiraiya had seriously considered heading back to the village to find out what was going on, but Hiruzen assured him that it was fine. About a year after that he overheard the merchant guilds grumble about the Forge Master and his apprentice, the annoying blonde kid. After some inquiring he found out that the blonde kid was indeed his godson. To Jiraiya it was clear that the village had driven Naruto over the edge and he had forsaken his fathers dreams for him, instead working in the industry district, farthest away from all those who hated him for the burden he didn't even know off. And just now, he had to find out that Naruto had obviously killed before, far more than Jiraiya would have liked. He cursed Hiruzen and his weakness against the elders of Konoha.

They traveled with only two more encounters until they reached the first of the three possible villages Tsunade could be. Jiraiya told them he would need to meet up with his informants and left them at the hotel. They had only rented one room with three beds, two of them were now occupied by Naruto and Sasuke.

"I don't like this," Naruto grumbled at the ceiling, "Waiting and all that."

Sasuke grunted in agreement. "But it's not like we can do much now," he said. "I need to know what she looks like to scan the crowds for her."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully but said nothing further. They waited for two more hours before Naruto couldn't take it anymore.

"Gah! Where is the old pervert?" he yelled, jumping up and stalked to the door.

While not as fed up as his friend, Sasuke wasn't exactly calm either. "No idea. Let's find him, come on."

The streets were far busier than they were in Konoha, the most glaring difference was the gambling economy. At seemingly every corner was a small casino or at least a bar where you could place bets on various races or fights. Naruto really hoped that Tsunade wasn't here for all that. He couldn't stand gambling. Sasuke on the other hand had a predatory smirk on his face. Back in the day when the Uchiha and their famous eyes were far spread, they were despised by each and every casino there was. With the use of their eyes, the clan had amassed a small fortune by reading their opponents movements and reactions, stripping them of all their money in one game of poker.

They were about to enter one of the many bars that littered the streets when the door was blown outwards and Jiraiya flew straight out of the building and was sent crashing into a cart full of cabbages on the other side of the street.

"My cabbages!" cried the man that had pulled the cart, in despair.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and decided to ignore the twitching pervert covered in cabbages and entered the bar. It was instantly obvious who had been the one to blow Jiraiya through the door.

 **Tsunade**

A women in her late twenties with long straw blonde hair captured in two pigtails stood at the bar, cracking her knuckles. She sneered at Jiraiya with disdain before turning around to order another drink.

"That her?" Naruto wondered.

"Suppose so," Sasuke replied. "She _did_ thrash the pervert, so that's good in my book."

Naruto shrugged. "Fair enough, let's talk to her."

Approaching the woman, Naruto stumbled over a pig that for whatever reason walked through the bar, and crashed right into her, causing Tsunade to spill her drink.

Sasuke face palmed. "Oh damn..."

Tsunade did not have a good day. Disregarding the usual pain of her broken heart, she had lost a lot of money today. And it hadn't even been hers to begin with. Then, because avoiding the debt collectors hadn't been aggravating enough, Jiraiya shows up out of nowhere and asks her to return to the village, that had taken her loved ones from her, as Hokage, the position her loved ones suffered and perished for. To say she was furious was the understatement of the century. And then, because it all hadn't been enough already, some brat spilled her drink.

That had been the last straw.

"That's it!" Tsunade hollered, so loud that the ground seemed to shuddered and the barkeep dropped a glass. Naruto managed to sway sideways and avoided being blasted into cabbages by a hair. Still, the sheer pressure created by the punch was enough to through him back into a table, causing the occupants to scatter in the room.

Rubbing his head Naruto lay on the ruined table on the floor. "Isn't she supposed to be a healer?" he grumbled and sat up. The stinging in his hand informed him that he may have crashed into some glass. Lifting his hand to inspect the injury, he found a quite deep cut across his palm. Frowning, he stood up.

"What the hell, lady!" he shouted, "It was just a drink!"

But Tsunade didn't respond. Her eyes were wide with horror as she stared at Naruto's injured hand. The injured boy would have said something had Jiraiya not suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Tsunade fears blood," he told Naruto lowly, "ever since she lost two very precious people." While a woman with short brown hair comforted Tsunade, Jiraiya slapped a bandage over Naruto's bloody hand. "Keep it down. We need to talk to her in private." The man appeared far more serious than either of the two teens had seen him before, so they went and left the bar while Jiraiya talked to Tsunade.

About an hour later the trio from Konoha and Tsunade with her apprentice called Shizune sat in the small hotel room Naruto and Sasuke had stayed in. Along the way the boys were told Tsunade's story and while Naruto understood her reluctance to return to the village, he needed her to heal Hinata. So he had to think of a way to get her to at least visit the hospital.

"Look granny," he said, rubbing his temples, "I don't need you to stay in the damn village. The old pervert does." He jerked a thumb at Jiraiya. "I just want you to heal a... my... a friend of mine. She might... die..." His hesitation confused him slightly but he shook it off. "She needs your help. The imbeciles at the hospital can't heal her, only you can."

Tsunade, still a bit sick from having seen blood, just sniffed in annoyance. "I told you, brat, I won't set a foot into that village." Deeming that enough, she crossed her arms below her oversized chest and turned her head to look out of the window.

Naruto's brow twitched violently and Sasuke decided to try and defuse the situation. "Listen here, you have debts, right?"

His question had Tsunade look at him out of the corner of her eye so Sasuke continued. "Should you return to the village and help heal an injured ninja, the Hokage might repay you generously."

Tsunade's hands twitched as she kept herself from responding. Shizune, sitting besides her, looked very hopeful at the offer. She was seriously annoyed by all the debt collectors they had to outrun, even though she would never say so out loud. Finally letting her arms down, Tsunade turned to face the three opposite of her with an angry sneer.

"I don't care about one of your pathetic ninjas!" she barked. Naruto bit back an angry shout. "If she was too weak to defend herself, it's her fault for getting hurt! I'm not-!"

" **SHUT UP YOU BITCH!** "

Before Tsunade even knew what was happening, something hit her left shoulder hard enough to push her up off the bed and into the next wall, which cracked audibly as her back collided with the stone. Naruto stood in front of the now empty space Tsunade had occupied not a second ago, a red haze visible around him, eyes blood red and a spear held steady in both hands. The tip dripped of Tsunade's blood and was still pointed at her shocked from sitting up against the wall.

"I fucking _dare you_! I dare you, you bloody bitch! Say another word and I'll impale you with every damn spear I have!" he snarled at her. When she moved to stand up, Naruto threw the spear. It hit the wall just above her shoulder, only an inch from her face. "You fucking coward have no right to speak about her like that! She didn't run away, she didn't cower behind an illusion and didn't drown her self in booze! She stood and fought for her dreams! She is **_strong!_** " Unsealing a spear from kami knows where on his body, he pointed it at the stunned Tsunade. Her shoulder had already healed by itself but she was just too shocked to react. "And if I have to drag you by your hair into the village, you will heal her! I don't give a bleedin' _fuck_ what you do afterwards! But you will heal her!"

The red haze had dissipated from around Naruto and rationality returned to him. What the hell had just happened? For a moment there, he had completely lost it. Ignoring the burning seal on his stomach for now, he resumed to talk.

"If you come willingly, I will see to it that your debts are null and void. The Hokage has a lot to be sorry about, he will pay if I ask him to." Re-sealing his spear into the seal tattooed onto his forearm, he sat down, breathing heavily from the Adrenalin pumping through his system.

Sasuke was careful not to show any reaction but his eyes had observed a mass of chakra greater than he had ever seen it. The speed Naruto had moved at was beyond human, beyond what should have been able without forcing chakra through your muscles. Something Naruto shouldn't be able to do.

Jiraiya was also carefully masking his reaction. He was ashamed that he hadn't been able to react, but maybe that would cause Tsunade to come with them. It did worry him, however, that Naruto had just released as much chakra as he himself had. And the Kyuubi's no less. Was the seal weakening? Couldn't be, not possible. It must have been the anger that the fox tapped into in order to pour his chakra through the seal.

Down on the ground, eyes fixed at the shaft of the spear that was lodged deep into the wall right besides her head, Tsunade was out of it. Jiraya had told her that the kid wasn't a ninja. And yet he had moved to fast for her to see. Too fast for her! She was one of the most powerful ninja to go around and yet she couldn't even flinch before the weapon he had unsealed faster than she could describe. The kid wasn't normal, that's for sure. But aside from that, his determination to help this girl overwhelmed her. He stood against her, even attacked her, only so she would heal this one girl, and didn't seem to care too much about Konoha. The hurt she could see in his eyes reminded her of the same eyes she saw whenever she looked into the mirror. He was different, but not by much. She knew it- could feel it- that he too was running from something. His unwavering determination reminded her of both of them. Of Nawaki and Dan. They may not have been as angry as Naruto, but were no less determined in their goals. If only the damn war hadn't been! If only she could have healed him! If only the village of Konoha hadn't sent them into their graves! But now there was another ninja wounded, a girl that was obviously very important to Naruto. A life she could save, unlike Dan's, who bleed to death in her arms.

Tsunade didn't care about the debts anymore. She had been running for too long, hiding for too long. Dan would have frowned upon her, shirking her duties and not saving lives only she could save. Becoming Hokage? That had been both their dreams. Maybe it was time to embrace their dream, and step forth from the sorrow and the pain. The kid was right. She had no right to speak ill of someone who was fighting for her believes. No, she wouldn't shame the legacy of her two precious people anymore.

It was time to go back and do what she should have done years ago.

 **War**

The journey back went by fast in the awkward silence that Naruto's outburst had created. Even Jiraiya refrained from any pervert comments.

They were about half a day from Konoha when a plume of smoke erupted on Jiraya's shoulder. A frog as big as the Sannin's head _vomited_ a scroll into Jiraiya's outstretched hand before disappearing less than five seconds after he had appeared. Ignoring Naruto's somewhat disgusted expression and Sasuke's questioning stare, the Toad Sage unfurled the scroll and read the message.

 **" _Snake attacked, swift and soundly. Require aid in cleaning house. The Fire wanes._ "**

Jiraiya's eyes widened and he incinerated the scroll with a burst of chakra. He turned to his companions and bellowed "Move! The village is under attack!"

Immediately an icy fear gripped Naruto's gut. Hinata was still in the hospital, unable to move. He needed to hurry! Without waiting for any kind of response, Naruto took of, never noticing the red in his eyes, as fast as he could. He left behind four stunned ninja. Was he really not a ninja?

They didn't linger for long, hurrying themselves and soon catching up to the slightly red glowing form of Naruto. It took them about an hour before they saw the enormous snakes attacking the village walls. Telling them to head for the Hokage tower, Jiraiya broke away from the group and towards the giant snakes. Twenty seconds later an equally giant toad was slicing up the reptiles.

The village was a mess. Ninja's were fighting everywhere and civilians were still fleeing towards the emergency bunkers in the Hokage mountain. Those foolish enough to get into the way of the group were either simply run over by Naruto, massaged into the ground by Tsunade, burnt to a crisp by Sasuke or perforated by Shizune. Admits the chaos Naruto broke away from the group and sprinted towards the hospital. He wouldn't let anyone hurt her!

He was relieved to see a unit of chunin in a defensive position around the hospital and instantly he tripped over his own feet as the red aura around him vanished. He hit the ground face first and slid several meters before stopping short at the feet of one of the chunin. This chunin just happened to be Iruka.

"Naruto?!" he exclaimed in shock, bending down to pull the boy up.

"Dammit... what the hell is up with my legs...?" he grumbled as he wiped the dirt out of his face. Looking around he faced Iruka and scowled. "Oh right, you're still here."

The momentary confusion vanished from Naruto and he immediately spun around to face the large number of sound and sand ninja dropping onto the street and roof before the defensive line the Konoha ninja had formed. They intended to attack the hospital. Not as long as he could draw breath! Pulling a scroll from the seal on his forearm that gleamed in a silvery blue, Naruto unsealed a bow. A long, pitch black bow that was seemingly covered in thorns. Considering that the bow was nearly as big as Naruto and the fact that basically all of the ninja knew just who the blonde boy was, they jumped in surprise. Some of the enemy ninja raised an eyebrow at the headband less civilian with the huge ass bow, some even wanted to laugh, but mere three seconds later, two sound ninja chocked on steel arrows in their throats.

"You will not pass!" Naruto snarled as his eyes blurred between blue and red, barring his enlarged canines as he drew back another arrow and immediately released it into the head of a ninja with a suna headband.

Everyone seemed to recover from the initial shock just then and the fighting began...

The Hokage tower was a ruin. Orochimaru had directly attacked the third Hokage and had summoned a snake twice as big as the now destroyed building to battle his former teacher. When Tsunade arrived at the remains of the tower gates, she, her apprentice and Sasuke were met by a translucent red wall of chakra. Inside they could see a fight between monsters. Hiruzen wasn't Hokage for nothing. The amount of explosions and small earthquakes he produced while battling Orochimaru and a figure to fast to identify set him on equal terms with a force of nature. Orochimaru wasn't a slouch himself. With his ambition to master every jutsu there was, the amount of deadly and destructive justu he unleashed was frightening. But what caught Tsunade's eye was the person _flashing_ all around Hiruzen, showering him with shuriken and spirals of condensed chakra. She knew who that was, she knew what that meant, and she knew Orochimaru had to pay. Clenching her fist tightly, she drew back and punched the barrier hard enough to shake the whole village.

With an infernal screeching sound the barrier wall bent inwards until the strain was to big and it tore apart, shattering like glass. "Shizune!" she called over her shoulder as she shrugged of her jacket, "take the boy somewhere safe. He'll only be in the way." And without waiting for a response, she charged at her former teammate. Behind her, the red wall reformed.

Bending at an unnatural angle, the snake sannin avoided the air displacing punch and flickered onto a larger price of debris nearby. "Oh my! Tsunade, I am honored you'd join us!" he exclaimed with a wide grin that stretched far too wide than it should. She was about to snarl a whole lot of insults at him when she had to duck out of the way of a three pronged kunai. Before it even hit the ground, the flashing figure appeared to grab it mid flight and throw a kick at her temples. But Tsunade wasn't a sannin for nothing. She caught the leg just before it hit her face and she pressed down hard.

Ignoring the blonde man she held fast, she glared at Orochimaru. "Resurrection? You sank far lower than I had expected. And my expectations were rock bottom you filth!" With that she threw the man at her former teammate only for her live projectile to disappear in another flash of bright yellow light. Hiruzen landed besides her, already slightly out of breath but otherwise unharmed.

"I see Naruto managed to convince you, Tsunade," the Hokage halfheartedly chuckled.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "So you planned that?"

Hiruzen glanced at her in mild surprise. "I see Jiraiya talked to you about the boy." He whipped his black bo staff through the air to dissipate an incoming fireball and returned it with a near soundless Shadow shuriken jutsu.

"I've heard enough," Tsunade replied, punching the ground before her, sending a shock wave at Orochimaru who had to flicker farther away in order to avoid being buried alive. "Enough to know that I'll do your job much better than you did."

"That may very well be true," the aged Hokage sighed, "but it is as it is now, I can't go back anymore."

"So... he controls the fourth?" Tsunade asked, flicking her hand through the air in front of her to send a barrage of three pronged kunai of course. Hiruzen only nodded before he rushed to engage his former pupil in close combat.

The fourth Hokage, hero of the leave village, appeared besides one of his kunai not too far from Tsunade. The white of his eyes was black, his blue eyes dull and his skin showed cracks akin to cracks in dry concrete.

"Minato," she said, inclining her head slightly, "I never thought I'd meet you like this."

The dull blue eyes seemed to brighten ever so slightly and Minato's jaw began to shudder. His whole body went rigid as he strained against his own movements. At last, he spoke.

"Lady Tsunade," he said, his voice strained and slow. Yet he managed to incline his head."I am sorry to meet you like this. Defeat me quickly, my control slips faster as time drags on..." His jaw clenched and he took a shuddering step forwards. "Quickly!" he hissed.

Tsunade raised her fists and bent her knees, preparing to crush him in one blow. "You would be proud of your son, he's a strong soul." Her right fist began to glow in a deep blue as she gathered enough chakra to crush a mountain.

Minato smiled weakly. "Of course he is. He's my son after all." As he finished the sentence, his eyes glazed over again and he vanished in a flash.

Cursing, Tsunade began avoiding to be skewered and blocked kicks and punches from all direction nearly simultaneously. This wasn't going to be easy.

In front of the hospital...

Naruto ripped his glaive through the guts of another suna ninja. He was already covered in blood from head to toe, the innards of yet another man didn't bother him anymore. Seeing a barrage of kunai incoming, he sealed the weapon and unsealed a tower shield at the same time. Crouching behind it, he avoided being a pincushion. A leaf ninja behind him wasn't all that lucky and was hit in the shoulder just as he finished burying a sound ninja beneath the street in some earth jutsu. Naruto cursed and moved backwards until the shield covered his fallen comrade as well.

"Are you alright?!" he shouted over the fighting around them. Naruto wasn't stupid enough to think he could fight of the dozen of enemy ninja by himself. As much as these people loathed him, he needed their help to defend the hospital and Hinata. The ninja held his arm, the look on his face proofed to Naruto that he was recognized, but the expression quickly became as friendly as it could be in a war zone.

"Thanks, I'm fine," the ninja responded and pushed himself up, still staying in cover behind the shield. "You're a civilian, you shouldn't be here!" the ninja admonished.

Naruto suppressed a growl. "If you want me to put away the shield, sure. But you'll end up studded with sharp metal pieces, so shut up and back away if you can't fight!" he shouted at the man and threw a few of the kunai that lay all around them at their attackers. Suddenly the constant rain of metal ceased and Naruto dared to glance past his shield. Standing before him was Iruka, holding a glowing barrier of chakra in place that stopped all incoming attacks.

"Quick!" he shouted at them, "Fall back towards the entrance! We are being pushed back!" Not waiting for a reply, Iruka pushed forward with the barrier still up before pushing the wall forward, letting it roll into the enemies. Naruto dropped his shield, which vanished into the seal as soon as his hand left the grip, produced his long bow and began firing as he moved backwards. He cursed inwardly at himself for not carrying the artillery with him that he and Muso occasionally produced, a huge ass cannon would be really handy now. Especially if said cannon could spew a thunderstorm. But he had little time to think about that.

Were it not for the fact that he was still caught in the strange red haze, Naruto wouldn't have been able to duck under the chakra enhanced swipe of a short sword. Dropping his bow, which vanished just like the shield did, he whipped out a pair of daggers and pushed the blade of the enemy further away with one blade before skewering the man with the other. It was then that Naruto realized that he hadn't retreated as fast as the other Konoha ninja had. He was in the middle of a good dozen of the invaders. Deciding that daggers wouldn't be of much help, he switched to a spear and twirled the weapon in a wide arc all around him. The sudden switch in his choice of weapon caught most of his attackers of guard and they fell to his first strike.

Iruka slid into the fight, beheading a sand ninja that was about to unleash a wind jutsu at Naruto. He wanted to shout something but was forced to dodge spikes of earth that had been hurled at him. The teacher had been worried that Naruto wouldn't make it but he was absolutely astounded by the boy's ability to wield every kind of weapon. Switching seamlessly between his weapons, Naruto danced through punches, kicks, blades, kunais and a few jutsu as he decimated the enemy ninja, all the while covered a haze of blood and red chakra. Many Konoha ninja couldn't comprehend what the boy was even doing here, less so how he could battle trained ninja toe to toe while severely outnumbered. Some knew _what_ he was and seeing him covered in blood, ripping through the enemy in his rampage, made them shiver. But many had seen him protect a wounded leaf ninja, they couldn't deny that without him, they wouldn't last and the hospital would be razed to the ground. With a battle cry and renewed vigor, the Konoha ninja defending the hospital engaged the enemy anew.

Naruto was starting to tire. His muscles burned, his lung felt ready to collapse and he was beginning to feel dizzy from all the blood he had lost through various cuts on his person. The fight was leaning in favor of the defending forces until a jonin appeared on the battlefield. Naruto didn't even see the punch coming before he was flying through the air and into the hospital entrance, shattering the glass doors. His collarbone was definitely broken. Pushing himself up, he stood shakily and looked outside, seeing that the new enemy was far stronger than the rest of the invaders. Allied ninja fell in the blink of an eye and he heard the order for retreat being shouted above the battle. They were loosing.

Abandoning the fight, Naruto rushed through the hallways of the hospital as fast as he could. He needed to reach Hinata's room. No one would get inside. Not as long as he could hold a weapon.

Outside of Konoha...

Kurenai wasn't sure she would survive this. A tailed beast, the one tailed Shukaku to be precise, had broken out of its container and was now attempting to attack the village. Orochimaru had orchestrated the whole thing, planning to have Konoha destroyed by using the son of the Kazekage, Gaara, who was the jinjuriki for the one tailed. As far as she knew, this was supposed to happen at the finals of the chunin exams but something must have triggered the invasion earlier. Kurenai suspected that Orochimaru had gotten the information that Jiraiya had left the village and used the opportunity to strike.

Kakashi, Gai and Asuma were currently busy weaving through the tons of sand that were lashing out at them. The beast was roaring furiously at them, standing in a newly created plane that had once been a thick forest, sand everywhere. And Kurenai was keeping Gaara's brother ans sister away from the fight. It wasn' really hard, they were just genin, but she didn't want to unnecessarily hurt them. She had just put the girl to sleep and watched Shukaku's arm being blown off by a mighty kick from Gai, only for it to instantly reform at lash out at Kakashi, interrupting his water dragon jutsu.

Kurenai was about to join the fray when she spotted someone she hadn't expected. "Muso?" she shouted from atop a tree branch, "What are you doing out here?!"

The Forge Master halted to look up at her. "Bringing the heavy guns, girl, what else?" he told her and patted the big scroll he had slung over the shoulder. "Help me bring this up on the hill over there and this will be over soon."

It took them five minutes to reach the hilltop. Shukaku had advanced slowly, thanks to the three jonin fighting it of and was still about a kilometer from the village.

"Aye, that's one good spot," Muso said as he placed the scroll on an even patch of grass. With a big explosion of smoke, a huge cannon was unsealed from the scroll. It was pitch black aside from the steel platform it stood on and the singular golden line that ran along the thick barrel that was about 10 feet in diameter and about thrice as long. It was a humongous weapon and loomed ominously over the forest, standing atop the hill.

"Quit staring and stand back!" Muso shouted and Kurnai back away from the cannon. The Forge Master operated the weapon from a control panel with too many buttons and levers for Kurenai to count at the base of the steel platform the cannon rested on. With an electric crackling, the canon took aim at the one tails and the golden line along the barrel began to glow brightly. The muzzle of the cannon began to emit a soft blue glow that grew brighter and brighter with each passing second.

"What exactly will this do?" Kurenai shouted over the charging noise of the cannon. She didn't want Gaara to be hurt, the boy was being used.

Muso finished adjusting the aim and turned to face Kurenai. "Don't worry girl, this baby essentially fires an overpowered chakra seal. It's strong enough to push that beast back into it's seal... I hope," he added, frowning at the towering tailed beast in the distance. Suddenly the wind around the started to pick up as if the air was sucked into the weapon. The pull got strong enough for Kurenai to adhere herself to the ground with chakra. Muso's weight prevented him from even budging as he put his hand on the big red lever right in the middle of the console.

Yanking it down hard, he bellowed "FIRE!" and Kurenai's vision disappeared in a flash of white.

In front of Hinata's room...

The bodies were pilling the in hallways of the hospital, all of them suna or sound ninja. The once pristine white walls were stained red with blood, not even the ceiling was untouched by the carnage. Countless swords, spears, knives, arrows and kunai were stuck in walls and the floor, most of them from Naruto. He had run out of chakra inside the seals so now his weapons didn't reseal by themselves and Naruto knew that he was low on weapons in his inventory. His breathing was ragged and came in short, painful bursts into his abused lungs. He was on his last legs and he knew it. His body couldn't take much more, he needed these attacks to stop.

Naruto was about to lean against the door to Hinata's room when a figure dropped into the hallway through a shattered window to his right. His vision was already swimming and he wasn't about to take any chances so he hurled the sword he was holding at the ninja. He managed to see that the ninja avoided the weapon as he stumbled forward. His legs were too weak to support him any longer and gave out. But he didn't hit the bloody floor. The ninja had caught him and was holding him upright. Naruto blinked against the spots in his vision and saw Iruka smile weakly at him. "It's over, Naruto. They're retreating."

The blonde artisan took a deep breath and managed to smile before he blacked out. Iruka was about to try and get his former pupil out of the bloody mess around them when everything went white. Covering his eyes, Iruka cursed and moved along the wall, stumbling half blind through the hospital. Leaf ninja moved into the hospital, a few shocked at the scene before them, but they secured the hospital quickly enough. Naruto sighed in relief, Hinata was safe.

The academy had become an emergency headquarter since the Hokage tower was destroyed and the stadium in ruins. There was also a field hospital to where Iruka was currently heading. While the teacher didn't see it, Naruto's wounds were healing at a visible speed, his blood replenished at a just as frightening speed. Just short of reaching the academy, Naruto jerked awake, causing Iruka to drop him in surprise.

The blonde looked around in surprised before he spotted the looming red barrier down the street which seemed to rise a kilometer into the air where once the Hokage tower stood. "What the fuck?!" he exclaimed as he pushed himself to his still week legs.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted, "We need to get you to the field hospital!"

A tremor shook the ground and Naruto looked back at Iruka. "What's going on over there?"

Iruka hesitated before he answered. "The Hokage is fighting Orochimaru inside that... We can't get inside and the anbu were needed elsewhere-" and Naruto heard no more as he was already sprinting down the streets towards the barrier.

The Ruins of the Hokage tower...

Hiruzen took a hard hit to his left side before he could manage to behead Orochimaru with a giant shuriken. The force of the kick had him cough up blood from his battered left lung and he was thrown into a mountain of debris. The explosion caused by the impacted served to destroy a few of his steel cabinets that contained a mass of documents which rained down upon him, blocking his sight.

"Kami damned paperwork!" he growled and substituted with a log to avoid a hail of venomous snakes.

Hiruzen was about to throw a water dragon at the snake when an explosion with a terrible echo turned everything white for a few seconds.

Orochimaru growled as he could see again. Shukaku was gone, Gaara had been neutralized. He could hear his sensei laugh. "Seems that his weapon worked. Your plan has failed, Orochimaru, and now you will be the next to fall!"

"Don't get too cocky, old man!" he snarled back and dislodged his jaw. He heaved once and a blade shot out of his maw, aimed at Hiruzen.

The Hokage made to dodge only to find his legs rooted by some of the snakes Orochimaru had unleashed before. It was only a moment but in the blink of an eye the blade flashed and pierced Hiruzen's chest. The blade was stopped not an inch from stabbing through his heart. Enma, the monkey king and Hiruzen's summon, managed to catch the blade just before it could kill. Hiruzen didn't flinch, didn't make a sound as Orochimaru walked forward, the blade still coming from his mouth and pushing against Enma's hold.

With a self satisfied grin visible even on the dislodged jaw, Orochimaru came to a halt only an arms length before his old sensei. "You have become old, Hiruzen. This is the end."

Every word was strangely audible through the open mouth and pushed against Enma's hold and Hiruzen grit his teeth as the blade, Kusanagi, scrapped against his bones. Orochimaru's wide lips stretched even farther into a sickening grin. "Konoha will fall!" he laughed maniacally, the sword vibrating painfully in Hiruzen's chest.

"Not as long as I'm still here...," Hiruzen grunted and began to rapidly make hand seals while Orochimaru was on his laughing high.

 **"Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal!"**

Orochimaru's laughter instantly stopped and his eyes widened as the ghostly figure of the death god appeared behind the Hokage, it's white robes billowing all around the skinny, grayish figure.

"This is _your_ end, Orochimaru!" Hiruzen shouted. **"SEAL!"**

Tsunade heard the Hokage's roar even over the explosion of Minato's chakra spirals all around her. The chill that radiated of the death god's presence halted her fight with Minato, whose reanimated body was nearly torn to shreds.

"No!" she breathed before abandoning the fight with Minato, whose body halted, as if frozen in time, when the death god started his work.

The barrier crumbled around them, giving Naruto the chance to sprint inside. His legs burned with an unholy amount of pain but he moved forward anyways, stumbling over debris and gashes in the earth towards the cold that he could feel ahead.

His breath caught in his throat when his eyes fell upon the death god, its ghostly hand plunged through the old Hokage's back and straight into the chest of a man Naruto hadn't ever seen before. Hiruzen was coughing up blood, a blue glowing blade was piercing his chest that sprung from Orochimaru's mouth.

"Old... man?" Naruto froze in place, about 15 meters from them. Hirzens head turned slowly and painfully in Naruto's direction as the hand of the death god began pulling a blue shape out of the other mans body.

"N... aruto..," the Hokage coughed, "I... am...so... sorry"

Unfathomable dread rose up in Naruto's gut as he watched Orochimaru's head lurch forward, fully impaling Hiruzen with the sword. The death god's hand curled into a fist, shredding a piece of the blue shape into oblivion before leaving Hiruzen's body, letting it drop limply to the ground.

The old man didn't move anymore.

Orochimaru howled in agony as his hands and arms blackened and withered, transforming into nothing but dead flesh and bones. Kabuto appeared in a plume of smoke and grabbed onto Orochimaru.

"You will pay for this!" the snake sannin screamed before he and his servant vanished just in time to avoid being crushed by Tsunade's punch.

Naruto knelt besides the Hokage's still form. "Hey!" he shouted, shaking the body. "Oi! Old man!" He shook more and more until the helmet of Hiruzen's armor came off, rolling away slowly, revealing the face of the Hokage entirely. His eyes were closed, as if he were only sleeping. A small trickle of blood was still flowing from his lips, his expression peaceful, serene even.

"Wake up! You better wake up or I'll... I'll prank the whole damn town, believe it!" Naruto's head dropped onto the Hokage's unmoving chest. Tears mixed with blood as Naruto wailed loudly and bitterly.

"Please! Wake up! Old man!"

Naruto's cries echoed throughout the whole village. It was as if every other sound had ceased the moment the Third Hokage fell.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, God of Shinobi, the Professor and Third Hokage was dead.

 **The Aftermath**

Tsunade tried all she could, but even she couldn't revive the dead. She managed to pry Naruto of the Hokage's body when a hand on her shoulder made her jump.

"Let me talk... to him..."

Minato stood behind her, the hand that had touched her shoulder was already crumbling away into dust and his skin was cracking and falling off. Nodding numbly, Tsunade stepped aside.

Naruto was on his knees, both of his hands firmly grasping the Third Hokage's hand, which was rapidly growing colder, and his body shook with chocked sobs. Minato fell to his knees besides him, his legs also started falling apart.

"N-Naruto...", he said, voice shaky and hollow for his throat was also coming apart.

The boy didn't respond, just stared at the still body of the old Hiruzen.

"Listen,... s-son. I... I need you... to listen... to me...," Minato spoke softly albeit strained.

Naruto's head turned slowly to face the blond man besides him. "Son...?" he breathed, eyes widening.

"That's... right!" the fourth managed to smile weakly, "I'm your... dad!" Instantly the smile left his featured, the skin on his cheeks was cracking open as he frowned, revealing a pitch black underneath. "And... I-I'm sorry... for leaving you... like... like this..."

His breathing becoming erratic, Naruto backed away from the man that was his hero and paragon. A mans who's image he had failed to pursue. And that man, was his father, the fourth Hokae, Minato Namikaze.

"You... you are... my father?" he chocked, trying to take in every detail of the mans face. His eyes, the same blue eyes his, the hair just as spiky and the same shade of blonde.

Minato nodded weakly, the fact that Orochimaru had canceled the jutsu was slowly drawing his soul back to the death god. "And I'm sorry... for... everything... you had to... go... through because... of... of the seal..."

Naruto blinked some tears away. "My... seal? I... have it because of you?"

"Yes... I..." Minato took a deep breath. "When... the nine tails escaped... I couldn't... defeat it. So I... I..-"

"You... sealed it..." Naruto finished for him. The boy let his head hang, gripping it with both hands. "And they... hate me for it? Because...I am the container?"

Minato didn't respond, he wasn't able to. The inside of his throat had already disintegrated beyond use and his consciousness was fading so he pulled out a kunai and scratched away furiously at the dirt at his feet.

 _Naruto,_

 _know that your mother and I always have and always will love you. It was I who decided to trust you with this burden, so that you may stand as a hero for the village. Obviously, I was mistaken and for that, I will be forever sorry._

The neat writing faltered as one of Minato's fingers broke away.

 _I want you to be happy and know, that I am proud of you. You are an incredible artisan and a master of seals. We, your mother and I, will always watch over you._

At this point the writing was barely readable, Minato was writing with only his thumb and index finger.

 _I am so proud of you, Naruto. Be happy and live your live as much as you can. I just hope, that one day you can-_

With a thud the arm hit the ground, startling Naruto out of his trance. Momentarily confused he quickly read the message on the ground. With a frustrated sob, Naruto threw himself into his fathers chest, clinging tightly to him. Today he had witnessed war, lost a mentor and was about to loose the father he never had. His fragile soul was close to breaking.

Minato embraced his son as tightly as he could manage, for the first and the last time, before pushing him back a little to look him in the eyes again. He placed a hand above Naruto's heart and mouthed _I love you_ to him before he crumbled away into dust. Gone forever.

And Naruto was left feeling colder than he had felt at the bottom of the pond.

 **A/N:** So, yeah. There's that. I had a hard time bringing this to an end. So you can expect this to be updated very soon.

As to why Naruto is able to fight of masses of sand and sound chunin? I simply state that his enhanced strenght and speed from the Kyuubi combined with his mastery of oh so many weapons sets him on par and/or above those.

The next chapter will habe another timeskip and the Akatsuki will come up. I'm unsure how to handle that. Should Naruto be trained as a Ninja? It would kind of defeat the whole idea of the story. Or will he go and prepare himself, talk to the Kyuubi, forge badass weapons and such.

There will be no secret scrolls coming up from his parents, nor will there be an inheritance or the likes. Naruto is off to the deep and right now, loosing Hiruzen and his father. So he's going to be depressed and such, feeling guilty about how he acted towards the Thirs before he died.

Hopefully Muso, Hinata and Sasuke can pull him to his feet again!

Also, sorry for the typos, have yet to fully proofread this but I'm quite busy and didn't want to keep this from you guys longer than necassary. Point out plot holes and mistakes in PM's or reviews!


	3. Chapter 3

**Not a Ninja**

 **Naruto fanfiction**

 **32**

And for three days after the incident, Naruto vanished from the village. No one was able to find him. Tsunade, Jiraiya and two anbu had heard the resurrected fourth Hokage talk to Naruto and nearly every Jonin had read the message left behind in the dirt.

Everyone wanted to find the son of the fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.

But Naruto didn't want to be found. Occasionally a nurse at the hospital would swear to have seen him in Hinata's room but never was he caught.

Only at the day of the third Hokage's funeral Naruto showed up. He carried the helmet Hiruzen had worn during his last moments. But it wasn't the same anymore. It gleamed in silver and the darkest black, the plates adorned with intricate runes and on the forefront of the armor peace was the symbol for the will of fire, made of a ruby that seemed to be crystallized fire. Naruto placed it atop the gravestone, got on his knees, bowed once and gave the helmet a final pat before simply walking away. Muso placed a hand on his apprentice's shoulder when he passed, giving an encouraging squeeze before turning back to the procession.

No one had the heart to stop the boy as he left, the anbu reported his return to the workshop and the sound of energetic hammering not an hour later.

* * *

Hinata awoke groggily five days after the funeral. She blinked against the morning sun shining though the windows of her room and slowly sat up. The long sleep had left her body unused to motion and a few of her joints popped in annoyance to the movement. Pulling the respiration mask of her face, she took in the many tubes that were connected to her body and shivered at the thought of just how bad it must have been.

"You're awake."

The voice had Hinata flinch into defensive stance, arms raised before her and legs coiling to jump.

Tsunade gave an approving nod. "And in good shape I see."

"I... How long was I...," Hinata began but was cut off as the door opened.

In walked who had to be Naruto, but wasn't.

His hair was longer and way messier than she remembered. There was a visible stubble of dark blonde on his chin. His eyes were dead and hollow, dark rings having formed underneath them, the white of his eyes streaked with red blood vessels. The frown seemed to be etched into his stony, incredibly pale face.

In his hands he carried a single lavender orchid, the same kind as the ones in the vase on Hinata's nightstand.

As if he was running on auto pilot, he passed Tsunade without even looking up at her and reached the nightstand without glancing in Hinata's general direction. Naruto slid the orchid in between the others and muttered "32…" before stepping towards the window but a hand on his wrist stopped him.

"Naruto...?", Hinata asked carefully, afraid he would suddenly disappear.

He looked her straight in the eye for minutes, saying not a word. Slowly his eyes moved all over her face, taking in every detail and Hinata fought down the urge to squirm beneath his scrutiny.

"32 days...", he whispered and moved closer to her face. "That... means..." All of sudden he whirled around to Tsunade and glared at her. "That means that the stupid old hag over there needed eight days to wake you up! Aren't you supposed to be good at this?!"

Tsunade's face morphed from slightly delighted to extremely annoyed. "Shut up you god damn brat! Is this how you intend to thank me?!"

Hinata watched in absolute bewilderment as the two rambled on.

 **The coming Storm**

It took Hinata a month to regain her full functionality. Even now she wasn't supposed to do anything above D-Rank missions and Kiba and Shino gladly joined her after the mess the war had left behind.

Naruto had gained some reputation after the attack, even a Bingo-book entry, as Konoha's master at arms and Konoha's Red Death. The Bingo-book advised caution for everyone below Jonin to even approach him alone. After Hinata woke up, Naruto returned to his usual self. Annoying and shirking the armor requests, as Muso would have said.

In light of the invasion the finals for the chunin exam had never been finished. Which was a problem for the villages for no chunin had been newly promoted into their own ranks. In a meeting held a week after the end of the fighting, when the rebuilding had already progressed immensely, Tsunade and the current acting Hokage of Suna decided to simply have another date selected for a new final exam. Three months from that day, the finalists were to return to Konoha and the exam would be conducted anew. As the date moved closer, the finalists and various guests arrived in the village.

Hinata was lazing in the backyard of the forge, her feet dangling in the cool water of the stream. She had just finished a day full of training. The last part of which was Naruto training her with the knives, mostly throwing knives, and the usage of her jutsu in combination with her weapons. Naruto was unable to keep up with her speed once Hinata infused herself with chakra, moving at what Kurenai called high chunin speed. Naruto was seriously impressed and was very vocal about it, causing Hinata's face to be more red than anything else most of the time Naruto was in the proximity but she also smiled and laughed so much more, far more than Kurenai had ever seen her ward smile in all the years she had known her.

"Oi! Hinata!" the young blonde called out to her, leaving the workshop after having stashed away his knives.

Hinata turned around and smiled. Ever since she awoke from her coma, Naruto had become closer to her than even before. They went shopping for supplies and food, Hinata cooked for him and Muso from time to time, Naruto visited her after she returned from her missions and they simply walked through quiet parts of the village together, simply enjoying each others company. Due to the fact that Naruto actively spent time with Hinata, he also befriended Kiba and Shino, Hinata's teammates. Kiba was loud and brash (not unlike Naruto remembered to be himself) but he was loyal and had a good heart. Shino, while rather silent, was an enthusiastic gardener, much like Naruto himself.

Also, Shino was now using a pair of scythes made by Naruto, styled after a mantis.

"Yes?" she called back to him, brushing a stay lock of hair out of her face. It had Naruto pause and marvel at her for a second.

He lightly shook his head, fighting a blush. Kami, that happened more and more often these days. How was she so... beautiful?

"Say... wanna grab a bite? I'll pay, believe it!" Inwardly he cringed at his verbal tick. If possible, the shade of red in his face got even darker and spread down to his neck.

Hinata laughed, a sound so clear it could have crystallized the air. She hopped out of the stream on skipped over to him, damn near floating.

"Of course! Let's go then!" Hinata's face was incredibly red but over time she had learned to keep her composure and just be happy with it. "But no ramen!"

Naruto's face fell only the tiniest bit as he hurried to close shop.

They went out to meet Kiba afterwards, his clan had a new litter of puppies and Hinata decided she wanted to see them. To her it seemed somewhat natural to drag Naruto along. No one minded, but Kurenai watched Naruto like a hawk, a hawk with demon eyes and a kunai pointing at his groin.

Life was good and could stay this way. Aside from the kunai pointed at his dick.

Sadly, not all was that easy.

With Naruto's heritage revealed, the demand for him to step up into his parents legacy became huge. The Hokage's advisors pressured for Naruto to become a symbol for the village's strength. A figurehead of sorts. They wanted him to become a ninja and would make him chunin with his skills.

Naruto scoffed at the very idea. They were far too late for that. Becoming a ninja was no longer a goal of his.

But there was another problem on the horizon.

A few weeks before the finals were to be held once again, Naruto was in the forge. Muso had left for a meeting with Tsunade to discuss his new terms of service under her reign as Hokage, which left Naruto alone in the workshop this evening. It happened more often these days, Naruto tending to customers and even the books, calculating income and expenses, how much they had to pay for the lease this month and what they needed to buy on supplies. Never had Naruto thought he would ever do that.

He looked up from the books when he heard the door open. A familiar mop of red hair entered and Naruto tensed. He still remembered the boy's claim to spill his blood.

"Can I help you?" he asked, trying to act as if he didn't remember him.

But before the redhead said anything at all, Jiraiya slid inside behind him. "Kid, we need to talk." His voice was dead serious, something Naruto didn't quite remember hearing before.

Naruto stood from the counter. "About what?" he asked, wearily eyeing the other teen.

"The seal."

Naruto frowned.

"A storm is coming and it's coming for you."

 **The Hunter and the Hunted**

They were sitting in the back of the forge, the three of them at the single table that made the already small room even smaller. No one said anything, Gaara, so Jiraiya had briefly introduced the boy, was absolutely impassive and Naruto was fine with that. Better than the blood lust.

"So?" the blonde asked, "What about the seal?"

Jiraiya gave him a piercing look. "Do you know what it is?"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "Of course, my father told me. You might remember. A few hundred people died that day."

There was a crack and the wood of the table under Jiraiya's hand splintered. "Don't talk like that," he growled, "Not ever."

"What do you want?" Naruto asked, ignoring the statement.

Jiraiya sighed and eased his hand of the table. "There are people coming for you. People that want the Kyuubi. The Akatsuki, those who hunt the Jinjuriki like you and Gaara here."

Naruto shrugged. "So? Are you implying that I'm not safe here? You also didn't answer my question."

With a barely suppressed grimace Jiraiya continued. "That's exactly what I'm implying. This group consists of nothing but Kage level shinobi. If they really wanted to, they could level Konoha."

Sighing Naruto stood up. "Okay... that is fucking bad. Real bad. But how is that _really_ concerning me? I'm no part of the shinobi forces or did you forget that? What do you expect me to do? Throw my hammer at them?"

The left nostril of the Sannin began to twitch. "It means that I'll prepare you for when they'll come for you. According to my spies, they have to await the reforming of one of the tailed beasts before they move to gather you as well."

"How long do we have then?" Naruto asked, looking into the fire of a candle on Muso's work desk.

"Three years," Jiraiya responded evenly.

"Oh, and pray tell, what would three years do for me? Do you want me to fight them?" Naruto fumed in a still calm voice. Though one could see that his fists were clenched hard enough to pierce the skin of his palms, bleeding slightly.

Jiraiya shifted somewhat uncomfortably. "I would train you, teach you how to use the Nine-Tails and-"

"Get. Out." Naruto bit out, interrupting the man.

"Naruto, you have to understand, you-"

"Get. OUT!" Naruto bellowed, nearly as loud as Muso could manage to be.

Jiraiya clamped his mouth shut and stood. Without another word he disappeared in a could of smoke.

Gaara, who had yet to say a word, stood slowly and moved towards the door. He turned around and his teal eyes found Naruto's. "I understand that your life here was by no means easier than mine. I have not heard much about you, but I see that you are running." Naruto opened his mouth with an angry snarl at the tip of his tongue but Gaara raised a hand, interrupting him. "Just understand that you can not run forever. You are being hunted. You do not have many options."

While walking out of the forge he called back to Naruto without looking over his shoulder. "What will it be, container of the Nine-Tails? Will you be the Hunted? Or the Hunter?" And so the red head vanished into the night.

Naruto sank down besides his anvil. "Fuck...," he sighed and let his head drop into his hands. "What am I supposed to do now?"

 **A Deal**

The fact that Hinata had to fight Sakura in her first round was somewhat ironic to the girl. Subconsciously she had always kind of fought her. But then it had been about Naruto and not about becoming chunin. Still, Hinata couldn't help but feel pleased that she could show Sakura what she could do, that she could show Naruto what Sakura _couldn't_ do. She idly wondered if she was becoming a little possessive but quickly discarded the thought. How could shy little Hinata ever hurt someone? Neji, the poor fool, could sing a song about that. He hadn't been quite the same since his defeat, he seemed strangely humble about himself and the clan in general, it was so very much unlike him, Tenten had tried to dispel a genjutsu on him several times.

On the fateful day of the exams, Naruto and Muso found themselves in the participator's stands so they could deal with whatever repairs necessary. Though Naruto was sure it was all part of Tsunade's schema. Whenever the new Hokage saw him and Hinata together, her eyes would get this odd gleam. Bloody disturbing. Still, Naruto would never complain about spending more time with Hinata. Or at least, closer to her. Even though he had full trust in Hinata, he was still nervous. She was fighting Sakura, after all. And if what Sasuke had told her, she packed a punch as hard as Tsunade.

Hinata's was the second match. First on the agenda was Sasuke, who... wasn't there yet? Naruto's eye twitched as he brought his hammer down on a glowing hot kunai. The sand kunoichi with the fan had him reforge a few because her old ones were, well, old. However, why she had him do that now out of all times was beyond him. Couldn't she just have bought a new set in Sunagakure? His eye twitched yet again as he hit the steel for the last time. He'd cool it, grind it and off she'd go. And then, hopefully, the tense unease of the room would go to. Because ever since Temari came into the forge Hinata, who was also there by default, was looking at her with such a scary gleam in her eyes that, whenever her eyes drifted to him, he very nearly missed a hit. It was probably the first time ever that Naruto wished for Kakashi to be here and break the mood with his damn giggles. Muso had left the room as soon as he had seen Temari. Maybe he should have done the same. But then, who'd be at the forge? Naruto suspected that Hinata would make good use of his hammer and anvil and place Temari in between.

"Thank you," Temari _purred_ at him and Naruto shuddered. Not because of any kind of arousal her voice might have triggered in lesser man, no, Naruto shivered because Hinata squashed the rock she had held in her hand like it was made of sand. In reality though, it had been a kilogram of the finest Damascus steel.

"No need," he squawked and returned behind his counter, basically hiding behind it. Temari however, took no notice of it and sauntered out of the room, her hips swaying viciously.

When the door closed it was like the stale air had left the room with her. Naruto's head hit the counter with an exhausted sigh. "For all that is holy, Hinata. I think I nearly died!" he accused weakly. "Also, do you mind not crushing my steel balls?"

Hinata smiled sweetly at him. "Oh but I'd crush them only for you! And that blonde bitch..." she muttered as an afterthought.

Naruto grimaced. "That sounded _so_ wrong."

Hopping of her perch on the worktable, Hinata walked over to Naruto and hopped onto the counter, sitting there in front of him with her legs crossed. Naruto swallowed heavily and met her eyes. "Yes?"

"I'm worried about my fight," she said and Naruto sighed in relief when he realized that whatever had possessed her had left.

He placed a hand over hers and smiled reassuringly. "No need, Hinata. You'll do great!"

She smiled but Naruto knew she wasn't too sure of that herself. He stood and took her hands, pulling her down to him. "Hinata, Believe in yourself, will you? I believed in you and now it's your turn to believe in yourself." He grinned. "It worked for me?"

Hinata squeezed his hands and looked up to meet his deep blue eyes. They were but inches apart from the other. She could feel his breath against her face. It tickled, made her smile. And then her eyes flicked to his lips. They lingered there for a second, a brief moment that Naruto noticed, before returning to his eyes. Her smile softened. "Can I believe in you, too?"

He tilted his head ever so slightly. Hinata watched in fascination as his hair swayed a bit with the motion. "Why would you do that?" he asked quietly, just a whisper, only for her to hear.

"Because," she said, pulling at his hands ever so slightly and willing him closer to her, "Because I believe that, if you can go on then so can I..."

Naruto leaned forward, drawn in by these big beautiful eyes of hers, her cute yet regal looking nose and her soft pink lips which were slightly parted as she met his gaze without backing away. "Then," Naruto whispered, "we make a deal."

"A deal?" Hinata asked, not fazed by the proposal. If anything, she came even closer to him.

"Yeah," he said, not even noticing that his arms now held Hinata securely against him at her waist. "You get to believe in me, for that you have to believe in yourself as well."

Her nod was so small he nearly missed it. "I could do that, but..."

"But?" Naruto questioned, his lips mere millimeters from hers.

"I could just... kiss you, you know?"

His nod was no more than hers but so much more intense on the inside. But at the moment, Naruto didn't even think. He just acted on instinct. "You could do that," he breathed and leaned forwards.

And then it was over.

The door exploded inwards as Muso bustled inside backwards with a crate full of kami-knows-what, humming to himself. Neither Naruto nor Hinata wanted to move a muscle but slowly, painfully slowly, they parted. Hinata's face lit up red, as if he had just lit her on fire (she certainly felt like it). Naruto though kept his eyes fixed in her face, on the lips he had been fractions of a second away from kissing. Just as he opened his mouth to say something and Muso turned around to see them standing so close together, the arena shook with an outcry of "CHIDORI!". Sasuke must have finished his match within the first two minutes.

That was finally enough to break them apart. Hinata took a few unsteady steps back as they could hear the roaring of the crowds outside. "I-... I'll see you later," she squeaked and headed for the door and past Muso who looked bemusedly at his apprentice. But just as the old master was about to say something, Naruto had already dashed past him.

"Hinata!" he shouted after her, "Remember! We have a deal!" Hinata's happy squeak of "Hai!" echoed though most of the building.

 **Sakura vs Hinata**

Sakura was already waiting down in the arena when Hinata made a mad dash out into the field. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the panting and grinning girl as she skidded to a halt just to the other side of Hayate, the proctor of this exam. He, too, raised an rather unimpressed eyebrow at the girl as the dust could she had drawn after herself settled.

Hayate, standing between them with his new sword proudly strapped to his back, which he had christened in the invasion as it saved his life, looked at the both of them.

Sakura wore her dark burgundy, sleeveless top with white accents and dark brown leather gloves. A grey equipment belt and tight black sport shorts. A type of dress wholly unfitting for a ninja, or so Hayate thought. No equipment, no apparent preparation. Hinata on the other hand wore a standard dark grey vest. Hayate recognized it as one of the combat vests Naruto made. He himself wore the very same in dark blue. Underneath her vest was a skin tight long sleeved shirt. Also something Naruto tailored. Strapped to her combat vest's lower back section were two long daggers, no doubt also made by Naruto. The kite shield in mat black was strapped to her forearm and a vambrace of sleek black metal to the other. The bow on her back was sleek back as well, at seemingly odd angles black spikes like thorns protruded from it. And if Hayate could see correctly, the string was black as well. The way too thin quiver was strapped to her upper right thigh and appeared to have only a single arrow inside. Not that anymore could have fitted in there.

Hinata took a deep breath and drew both daggers from her back, holding them in a reverse grip. She nodded at Hayate when she noticed his inquisitive look. The proctor nodded back and looked at Sakura who likewise nodded. Coughing a little, but not as much as he usually did, he raised a hand.

"The second match between Hinata and Sakura Haruno begins..." he let his hand fall in front of him, "Now!"

The moment Hayate had finished and jumped back, Sakura dashed forward, a fist cocked back behind her head. Hinata wasn't going to try and find out if the shield could withstand Sakura's punch and back flipped out of the way. It had been the right thing to do because where Hinata had stood a second before, the earth erupted and split, a cataclysm that spread outwards from the point of impact.

Jagged pillars of earth and stone were torn up by the force of the blow, one missing Hinata by inches as she twirled midair and latched onto the stone with her feet.

The spectators gaped. Within the first ten seconds of the match, Sakura had reshaped the entire battlefield into a filed of stone, resembling a canyon more than anything.

Hinata had been played. In an open field, Sakura would have been an easy target but now the girl had plenty to hide behind. But then again, how could she hope to escape Hinata's Byakugan? Activating her eyes, only for them to widen considerably, Hinata let herself fall off the pillar that was smashed to bits but a moment later. Sakura burst through the debris and flung a batch of shuriken at her. Deflecting them with one of her daggers Hinata continued her dive towards the ground. Snapping her shield into a bow she quickly fired an arrow at a nearby pillar. The arrow buried itself deep into the stone and with it the wire that was attached to it. Said wire led all the way back to Hinata's bow as it folded itself back into a shield and she swung out of the way of Sakura, who dove down after her and impacted heavily with the ground below, leaving a decent sized crater.

Sakura wasn't leaving her any space to breath! Hinata could see that the girl had learned the bodyflicker and increased her chakra reserves considerably. If Hinata couldn't get close to her without getting crushed or could get a good shot at her, this could end badly for her.

Using the bodyflicker herself she moved behind Sakura, lashing out with her knife. But the girl ducked out of the way fast enough and drove her heel into Hinata, who managed to deflect the kick with her elbow. Flickering once more, Hinata moved to the top of a pillar, keeping her eyes on Sakura as she redied her bow. But Sakura used her bodyflicker once more, appearing behind Hinata and throwing a strong punch at her back. Swiftly turning out of the way, Hinata swiped at Sakura's legs but missed. She flickered away an instant later and Sakura followed after dodging and arrow by a hair.

For about five minutes they chased each other, dodging and blocking. Eventually, Sakura was too slow to dodge one of Hinata's arrows. It lodged itself deep into her left calf, breaking her concentration enough for her to slip down the wall she had been standing on. But Sakura had no time to take care of the arrow in her leg before another missed her shoulder by under an inch. She used the bodyflicker once more, this time slow enough so that she was visible while jumping though the stones. And also slow enough for Hinata to catch her mid movement.

Hinata's heel crashed into her back, driving her into the muddy earth. But before Hinata could knock her out, the girl punched the earth beneath her, propelling herself upwards as she delivered a backhand at Hinata's side. The blow connected, if only glancing Hinata's ribs, and was enough to throw the Hyuuga sideways into a boulder. She crashed against the stone, her spine ringing with pain.

"Ouh...," Sakura moaned as she pushed herself to her feet after eating dirt for the second time. "You are far faster than I expected."

Sitting up against the boulder, Hinata laughed weakly. "And what is this ridiculous strength of yours, Sakura? I am the one who didn't expect it." She stood up and put away her daggers. "You'd think this is enough to earn us chunin..."

Sakura wiped the dirt out of her face. "You bet, Hinata. Sheesh, I'm tired."

"You are nearly out of chakra, Sakura," Hinata informed her as she deactivated her Byakugan. "Should we finish this?"

The girl nodded. She ripped the arrow out of her leg, wincing only a little and immediately wrapped the wound in cloth. Settling into her stance, Sakura beckoned for Hinata to come at her. Hinata smiled sweetly at her and Sakura shivered. Something was wrong. And suddenly Hinata was going through handseals faster than Sakura could see. She cursed and shot forward but she was too slow.

 **"Water Release: Grand Water Dragon Jutsu!"**

Sakur's jaw dropped. "Ah, you have to be kidding me!"

Pouring all of her chakra into the one jutsu, Hinata drew the water out of the moist earth beneath. It pooled around her, flowing and flowing like a whole river. In under two seconds the water shaped itself into the head of a giant dragon, eyes of gleaming lavender. Sakura knew that it would have been over if the mass of compressed water would hit her. Using what little control she had with her earth chakra, she slammed her fist into the ground, raising a slab of stone like a shield in front of her.

The dragon head shot forwards, ripping though the earth in a merciless assault towards Sakura. The mass of water hit the stone with an almighty splash, but the water dragon was too much to be halted by such a measly shield of stone. Sakura was nearly washed away by the water streaming past her shield with incredibly speed before the dragon uprooted her shield and washed her away with it. In a last ditch effort and as well as trying not be be crushed by her own shield, she punched the stone in front of her with the rest of her chakra, reducing it to bits, before slamming into the wall of the stadium. She was immediately unconscious.

Hayate appeared above Sakura before she could sink in the water. "Winner, Hinata!" he exclaimed and left with the girl to see the medics.

 **A Deal is a Deal**

"Where is she?" Naruto exclaimed, finally letting go of the railing he had nearly crushed while watching. Sasuke, who had been standing besides Naruto the entire time, suddenly vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto looked at the spot for a second before something suddenly impacted with his side. Before he could curse whatever had hit him with the velocity of a sprinting horse his vision was completely taken in by Hinata's beaming face.

"I did it!" she squealed, her muddy and wet hair falling freely into her face.

While Naruto fought for air beneath Hinata, Kiba and Shikamaru, who would be facing each other in the next round, looked at each other.

"Told you. They're an item," Kiba said, holding out his hand.

Shikamaru shrugged, eying the outstretched hand with mild curiosity. "If have yet to see evidence of that. Hinata is just excited."

"Oh come on!" Kiba whined, "You just wanna keep the hundred ryo!"

The Nara rolled his eyes. "Troublesome..."

They both turned back to the arena. The ground was ruined with craters and pillars, water was pooling at the very back of the field were once the tree's had been. Kiba looked at Shikamaru.

"All these shadows... work in your favor, huh?" he asked cautiously.

The Nara smirked. "That they do."

Kiba sighed. "Oh now _this_ will be troublesome!" he moaned.

As the yawning Shikamaru and the whining Kiba made their way down into the stadium, Hinata was anxious to get to the infirmary. Naruto was close behind her, telling her that it would be alright.

"Slow down Hinata," Naruto said, half laughing half pleading, as he was dragged down the corridor. Letting go of her hand was not an option, it felt to nice. So Naruto surrendered himself to being led away by her.

Hinata did slow down but was still hurrying down the halls. She shook her head. "I need to make sure I didn't hurt Sakura too badly!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and stopped, pulling Hinata back to him. She glared mildly at him, more worried than angry. "You worry too much," he told her. "Sakura will be just fine. And even if you riddled her with poison arrows, Tsunade could have healed her without leaving a scar. And the most she got from her fight with you is a sore calf and a concussion."

When Hinata still didn't look convinced, Naruto pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. That did the trick. The worry left her features, leaving only shock behind. Which also disappeared when she nestled her face in Naruto's chest.

"Let's still go see her," she whispered.

Naruto smiled. "I expected nothing less."

When they got to the medical bay, Naruto was only mildly surprised to Sasuke already there. He was leaning against the wall besides a door that could only have been the room Sakura was in. He nodded in their direction when he noticed them.

Naruto saw that Hinata fidgeted and struggled with whatever she wanted to say. He patted her head. "So, how is she doing?" he asked.

Sasuke shrugged and Hinata's eyes widened. Naruto rolled his eyes and kicked Sasuke's shin. "Stop messing with her."

The Uchiha grinned. "She's fine. The medics are just healing up the bruises. Tsunade walked in there and said she'd take care of the concussion because the medics here are shit."

"Damn right they are!" the voice of a woman shouted through the door before said woman shoved it open. Tsunade stepped out, holding a middle aged man draped in white by the scruff of his neck. "And I'll show him how to correctly heal a concussion. By self study!" The man whimpered as he was dragged down the hall.

Naruto laughed uneasily. "Uhm... shall we go inside?" Sasuke and Hinata nodded quickly and hurried inside.

"She's seriously scary," Sasuke mumbled. They walked into a room with several beds behind white curtains. The first one contained the poor chap that tasted Sasuke's Chidori. His brown hair was still a bit frizzled.

Naruto halted when he looked at him. "Say," he spoke to the boy, "weren't you with Gaara the other day?"

The boy with the short brown hair looked up at him. "Yeah, he's my brother." Then he glanced at Sasuke. "Thank you, by the way, for not destroying my puppet." Sasuke just shrugged. "Anyways, I'm Kankuro," he said, looking at Naruto. "And I hear, you and my brother are in the same... boat, I guess."

"You could say that," Naruto said, looking away. As he did so, he spotted Sakura sitting on a bed near the window in the back of the room. He also noted that Sasuke was already walking over to her. He turned to Hinata. "Come on." Waving goodbye to Kankuro, he too made his way over to his former classmate.

"How are you doing, Sakura?" he asked, seeing how Hinata fidgeted with the question.

The girl smiled. "I'm fine. My pride may have taken a hit, though..." She laughed sheepishly and glanced at Sasuke. Sighing in relief, Hinata sat down on Sakura's bedside while the guys stood a good bit away.

"She's become really strong," Naruto remarked.

Sasuke grunted. "That she has."

"So... you gonna take her out sometime soon?"

In a spectacular display, Sasuke chocked on the very air around them and tripped over his own two feet, falling sideways like a log. A whispered "Timber!" from Naruto accompanied him on his way to the ground.

"Wow," Naruto chuckled, "You've got it bad."

* * *

Muso was anxious, which was very much unlike him. He had always kept his wits about him, even when he had to send his 10 year old daughter away fro home to serve as a means to an end for their allies. But Mito had wished for it, so he allowed it. He stood tall when the village was attacked, he didn't break when he watched his son being crushed under tons of stone while his wife bleed out in his arms. He held his daughter as she wept over the news and his heart could stand leaving her behind to shoulder his father's wrongs.

His wife... the memories of her still fresh in his mind. Hair as red as a blood moon and eyes that rivaled the starry sky. A sword mistress and an Uzumaki to boot. He remembered his daughter just as well, with her blood red hair and deep violet eyes... his little spitfire. He remembered Mio, his wife, and he remembered Kushina, his only daughter. Ren, her little brother, he didn't get any older than eight when he was crushed underneath the stone ceiling of the Uzukage tower. He had his eyes, green like grass of the richest woods.

When Muso heard of the attack of the Kyuubi, he had dropped everything and hurried to Konoha, but Kushina was dead. He buried her underneath a tree at the edge of the graveyard and sat there for a whole week, unmoving and mourning his lost ones. The love and dedication his daughter had shown for this villages, it inspired him. He would use his talents and protect Konoha until his dying breath. But then he met Naruto Uzumaki.

The name alone raised hundreds of red flags, but he was blonde and Hiruzen told him that the boy had been given the Uzumaki name out of respect to the previous jinjuriki. And foolish as he was, Muso had accepted this. And for eight years he had worked for this village when suddenly the boy washed up in his forge. It was the first time he had ever gotten a good look at him. And Muso could not deny the similarities to Kushina, to Mio even. But he thought nothing of it. His heart could not bear to have left this child, his own grandson, to suffer through all this alone.

But when Minato spoke of Naruto as his son, Muso remembered the blonde boy he had seen Kushina with. He had only seen them once and she had seemed to hate him with a passion so he hadn't even considered it, but Naruto was announced to the village the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. And then he refused to accept it. Muso couldn't take the thought, the thought of his baby girl having a child, a child he himself failed to love because he refused to believe in the possibility, because in his grief he did not question what he was told. Because he had been a fool. A now... he could not bring himself to tell the boy, he could not bring himself to tell his own grandson that his grandfather was right here.

Whenever he saw Naruto nowadays, he was so happy despite all the misery in his life. And he decided that he had lost his right to be there for him. He would remain his master. He would remain the old man. And he would pray for his happiness. And we would ensure it with his very life on the line. Those Akastuki better prepare themselves.

* * *

Hinata skipped happily out of the infirmary, the fact that Sasuke would be her next opponent didn't seem to bother her at all. She was just immensely proud of herself, proud of the fact that she had one her first fight the way she did. And it was also good to know that Naruto found her Water Dragon "super mega awesome!".

She had about half an hour to prepare for her fight, she was still confident she could win. Sasuke may have been strong but she was no slouch either. Byakugan vs Sharingan. It was like a fated battle of some kind. If Sasuke was fast enough to avoid her arrows, Hinata would have to outmatch him in close combat. Her skills with the knife were nothing to laugh about and she would make sure Sasuke wouldn't laugh either. If things went alright, she would become Chunin regardless of the outcome of the battle.

The door to her left suddenly swung open and what was left of the Team from Suna walked outside. If she hadn't heard about Gaara from Naruto, Hinata would have flinched when his cold gaze zeroed in on her. His siblings awkwardly waved at her, relations between Konoha and Suna were still somewhat awkward after all. Deciding to be friendly, she smiled at Gaara, who seemed initially confused by the gesture.

"Nice to meet you," she said, "You must be Gaara, right? I'm Hinata, I heard a lot about you form Naruto." She smiled. "You left quiet the impression."

Gaara nodded. "I see. Then I assume that it is nice to meet you as well, Miss Hinata."

As soon as Gaara turned to introduce Temari, Hinata sent a death glare the girl's way who returned it in equal intensity.

"This is my older sister, Temari," Gaara said, totally oblivious to the chill the two of them generated.

"A pleasure, I'm sure," Hinata said with a curt nod. To the Hyuuga, such a greeting was essentially a slap to the face and judging by Temari's twitch in her nose, she felt much the same about it.

Because small talk was no option, Hinata excused herself, saying that she needed to prepare for her fight. Gaara, who had fought the battle previously, commented on her dedication and left without as much as another word. Temari glared darkly at her one last time and followed suit.

She stood in the hallway that led out into the arena when Naruto caught up to her. So caught up in her fidgeting and worrying about her fight with Sasuke, Hinata didn't even hear him coming up behind her. She yelped when he tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, hey," he laughed, "Sorry to scare you. Good to go?"

Hinata nodded. "Mhm, as good as it gets."

 _"Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata, please enter the arena!"_

"Ah, it's time, isn't it?" he asked, looking out into the arena.

Hinata nodded. "I'll be going."

She was about to walk ahead when Naruto caught her hand and pulled her back.

"Uhm.. What is it?" she asked.

He grinned and the tips of his ears reddened. "You forgot something."

"I did!?" she exclaimed, patting her pouches and weapons nervously. "What?"

"We had a deal. And a deal is a deal."

"Huh-" And just like that, he kissed her full on the lips. Hinata's legs turned into jelly and she held onto him to remain standing, one hand wandering up into his hair to pull him ever closer. She enjoyed the hot feeling of his lips on hers but eventually she needed to breath and pulled back.

"I- I really..," she stuttered breathlessly, "need to get going."

Naruto laughed weakly. "You say that, but you can barely stand." He kissed her forehead. "Come on, go out there and show them."

Hinata smiled and nodded. "Hai!"

As she skipped out into the arena, she heard him call after her. "And just so you know! This wasn't a one time deal!"

Her smile only ever grew.

 **Hinata vs Sasuke**

Sasuke stood stoically at the other side of Hayate as they patiently waited for her to take her place. Hinata may have been unaware of it, but the whole encounter with Naruto was on plain display from their point of view and a big part of the audience behind them. When she finally stood in her pace and nodded to Hayate, the man raised his hand and the murmuring of the stadium quieted down.

"Sasuke Uchiha vs Hinata!" he called out. "Ready?" When they both nodded, he jumped back. "Begin!"

With the battlefield flattened again (thanks to Gaara's Sand Tsunami) Hinata wasted no time putting some distance between them and pull the black bow of her back. Her volley of arrows was met by a huge ball of flames before they could even make it halfway across the distance between her and Sasuke. A brace of Shuriken came her way and she was forced to move, yet failed to see the wires attached to the weapons. They struck the far wall behind her and were followed by a second brace that forced Hinata to dodge again into the opposite direction. She frowned when she activated her Byakugan and saw that the wires were now to either side of her.

Sasuke made three hand seals in quick succession an thrust his hands forward, holding the wires between his fingers. **"Lightning Style: Lightning Field!"** Lightning crackled along the wires, great arcs of pure electricity jumping between them and rapidly approaching Hinata.

She had the option to use a body flicker, but Sasuke's Sharingan could easily follow her movements, she could not get away without being intercepted. Out of her pouch she pulled two kunai and threw one of them into the jutsu and the other at the wires to her left. The kunai sliced just barely though all of them, breaking the path for the technique to travel while the other kunai created a flash of lightning upon contact.

Dashing towards a slightly disoriented Sasuke, Hinata drove her leg into his midsection, only for it to be caught. He had either fooled her or recovered fast enough but Sasuke swung her around and threw her hard against the ground. Thanks to the sand that was still everywhere Hinata's impact was mostly absorbed and she rolled out of the way of Sasuke's heel. Deciding that she didn't want to find out what other moves Sasuke could pull, Hinata whipped out her knife and plunged it into Sasuke's foot, effectively pinning it into the ground. She wasn't all that surprised when he substituted with a piece of rubble. But her Byakugan spotted him the second he appeared behind her and three arrows flew at him before he could even get over his shock that Hinata would be so brutal.

With his Sharingan he dodged the arrows with minimal movements and returned a volley of fireballs to Hinata. His eyes widened a little when she got hit by the first one but he couldn't see through the smoke his attack had created. He never saw Hinata substitute with the Kunai she had thrown earlier. Her palm strike would have knocked him out if it had connected with his back but Sasuke ducked out of the way on pure instinct and engaged Hinata in a brief taijutsu scuffle. It ended with Sasuke lacking the feeling his right hand. Even though Hinata no longer bore the name, she still was a Hyuuga by blood. Her palm strikes were still deadly when they'd hit something vital.

Trying to shake some feeling back into his hand Sasuke unsealed a short sword from a seal on his forearm. Up in the stands, Naruto snorted. As if he could match Hinata with a weapon. And just as Naruto had thought, Hinata obviously had the upper hand when they clashed. Sasuke struggled to keep track of both of Hinata's weapons as she swiped at him so fast one could barely see the blades anymore. Even Sasuke had to admit that this had been a bad idea as one dagger nicked his shoulder and he jumped back out of reach, but not after kicking hard against Hinata's shield. As he flipped backwards, Hinata noticed that he had stomped a paper bomb onto her shield and hurriedly shrugged it off, just barely escaping the explosion.

The shock wave pushed her aside, directly into a kick from Sasuke. She was sent flying, but not before Sasuke ripped the bow off her person, the bowstring leaving a deep cut on Hinata's temple. Rolling into a crouch, Hinata stumbled sideways, her head ringing and keeping her off balance. She didn't register the odd tugging sensation at one of the daggers in her grasp before it was suddenly replaced with Sasuke, having used the substitution to replace himself with the weapon. His knee came dangerously close to her head before she managed to flicker away. But Sasuke didn't let up and followed barely a step behind her. They raced through the arena, Sasuke lashing out and Hinata oh so barely dodging as they kept chasing. Because Hinata could see that Sasuke had the chakra to continue this for hours, she decided that she needed to do something about this. Turning mid dash, Hinata charged her palms while going through some hand seals. Coming out of the body flicker, Hinata rolled out of Sasuke's reach.

Spinning on the heel of her left leg Hinata thrust both hands forward. **"Ninpo: Double Thorn!"** Twin spikes of white chakra shot forth from her hands, trying to end this fight in one decisive strike.

Sasuke had anticipated her move, his right hand began to spark with lightning. Time to end this, he told himself. **"Chidori!"**

The techniques met in a harsh explosion, filling a big part of the stadium with dust and sand. Because he had nothing better to do, Gaara raised a hand and the and quickly settled again, revealing a unconscious Hinata, her hair frizzled from the electricity while Sasuke clutched his bleeding right arm, standing a short distance away from her.

Hayate dropped down into the arena and, after waiting for a few seconds to see if Hinata would rise again, he called the match. "Winner, Sasuke Uchiha!"

Up in the stands, Naruto sighed anxiously. Muso put a hand on his shoulder. "Do not worry so much, boy," he spoke sagely, "We both know she's tougher than that."

Naruto nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Yeah... Thanks old man. Besides, she was absolutely awesome!"

Down in the arena, Hayate made a few hand seals and tapped Hinata's forehead, causing her to jolt awake. She looked around wildly for a second before pouting. Sasuke offered a hand to pull her up and together they bowed to the massive applause that came from the audience.

Leaving the arena with a slight limp, Hinata wondered if she'd get promoted for this. She made it into the hallway before Naruto found her ans wept her off her feet, hugging her tightly ad twirling her around. She yelped in surprise which soon turned into laughter.

"You did awesome!" he said, ginning at her, "If you don't get chunin for that I'm personally kicking granny's ass!"

Hinata couldn't help but suspect that he would actually go and do that, so she laughed even louder at the image that her mind presented to her.

 **Magnum Opus: The Weapon to kill a God  
**

Kisame yawned as he dropped out of his body flicker. "So you're finally leaving, eh, Itachi?"

The Uchiha made no move to acknowledge him, standing perfectly still atop the head of the third Hokage. "Will you stop me?"

Sitting down on the head behind Itachi, Kisame sighed. "Nah, I'm not stupid enough to try that one. It's just going to be a real pain in the ass to explain this to the leader."

Itachi turned to face his partner, his eyes for once not the crimson Sharingan. "He knew I would not stay. I must thank you for the time we worked together, but today I return."

With a snort, Kisame stood. "Aye aye, boss. Just don't expect a warm welcome from that village. I hear they weren't exactly pleased with you the last time you left."

"You never were funny," Itachi said and dispersed in a flock of crows.

Kisame looked after the birds for a moment with a blank expression. "No. I never was." And with that, he fell away into a puddle of water.

* * *

The crows crossed over all of Konoha until they reached the outskirts of the outside of the merchant district. In the backyard of a forge, a young blonde man was trying to instruct his friend in properly wielding a blade.

"Your feet are too far apart!"

"What do you mean, too far? Aren't you going to give me this whole widen your stance stuff?"

The blonde man sighed. "Jeez, Sasuke. You aren't a dancer. The way I fight relies on efficiency, not flashy moves."

"Fine," Sasuke huffed. "By the way, why the hell is this blade so heavy?"

Naruto shrugged. "Don't be a wuss, you're a ninja, aren't you? Use some chakra."

Itachi landed on the sawmill that stood on the other side of the small stream and watched the two of them for a while. He hadn't seen Sasuke like this since he left behind the bodies of his clan and the words he hoped that would lead Sasuke on the right path. And it seems that it worked, Sasuke was anchored to this village, even if it wasn't through the clan like he thought it would be. He found a brother in this one, found his heart in others. Itachi knew that Pain would move soon, but his own desertion could buy the jinchuriki more time.

Steeling himself, Itachi moved down to stand at the edge of the clearing so that he would stand plainly in Sasuke's field of vision. As soon as he landed, Sasuke stilled mid swing, his eyes wide and fixated on him. Neither of them moved until an arrow zipped by Itachi's face, brushing his hair.

"Okay," Naruto said, "This is not how I imagined my first encounter with the Akatsuki." He stood with his bow, the Black Thorn, in hands and aimed another arrow at the older Uchiha. But Sasuke placed a hand on his shoulder and Naruto lowered his weapon. He glanced at him curiously but never took his eyes of Itachi.

"You're back," Sasuke said, not moving a muscle.

"Yes," was all Itachi returned. The awkward tension made Naruto uncomfortable.

"So," he said, breaking the silence, "I assume you have something to talk about. I will... eh... just be somewhere else, I guess."

Naruto attempted to walk away but Itachi placed a hand on his shoulder. The touch was strangely gentle, which was decidedly unsettling for Naruto, considering Itachi was an S-ranked criminal. "Stay," he said, "I have something to tell you as well."

"Oh... I... okay? I guess?" Naruto sighed in defeat. He walked back to where Sasuke was still standing and gazing at Itachi.

"Sasuke," Itachi said, "I assume you know the truth?"

The nod from the younger Uchiha was barely visible, a frown appearing in his features. "Yes," he said through gritted teeth.

"Then what do´you intend to do?"

"I will change this village. People like Danzo will no longer be in power, they will hurt no one as long as I can do something about it!" Sasuke exclaimed with a snarl.

Itachi nodded. "And you?" he asked Naruto, "What will you do?"

Naruto frowned. "I... well, I'm not sure. I'm with Sasuke on the whole fuck Danzo thing but..." He shook his head. "What do you expect me to do?"

"The man with the Rinnegan, Pain, he will come for you," Itachi said. "He will seek to tear the demon from your gut and kill you in the process. You can either choose to fight, or to die and let him do as he pleases with a weapon such as the Kyuubi."

"Why is he even doing this?" Naruto asked, frowning deeply.

"For a dream of piece," Itachi revealed. "A dream of a peace enforced by god."

Sasuke snorted. "A god? Really?"

It seemed to Naruto that Itachi and not joked. Then again, the Uchiha showed little to no expression so it was kinda hard to tell. "What could I do against a god?" he asked.

Itachi shook his head. "That I do not know. It lies with you to survive, on your terms. I am merely here to make sure you know what is coming. I will aid you as much as I can, but in the end it comes down to you and him. The others will soon be targeted as well. Gather them and prepare. It is all that you can do."

Sighing, Naruto sat down on the grassy ground. Prepare, huh? To fight a god? It sounded quite so ridiculous but if Itachi was serious about it... He couldn't fight this man. He was no ninja, and while he had said so quite often, it was too late to start training as one. So, Naruto had to make do with what he had. His skills as an artisan of war, as a man of many weapons. If he couldn't fight them, maybe the other jinchuriki could. If so, Naruto would do everything he could to aid them, forge armor to make them invincible and forge weapons that could kill a god.

The grin on his face was making him look like a maniac. "A weapon to slay a god," he said aloud, looking up at the sky. "My greatest creation yet. A Magnum Opus, so to speak." He laughed. "You know, if I couldn't die because of this, that might actually be fun!"

He would survive. He would protect himself and the other jinchuriki. And most of all, he would protect Hinata. This god, this Pain, he better watch out. Because one pissed off Naruto Uzumaki was plotting his demise. And it wouldn't be pretty.

* * *

A group of six stood atop the highest tower of Amegakure. Six sets of Rinnegan eyes were peering into the distance.

"Not long now," a man with short orange hair said, stepping out of the group, "We will enact our plan and through me, the world shall no peace." He spread his arms wide as if to embrace the challenge Naruto had spoken out to him. "You will know Pain, Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

 **A/N. Because I'm a bitch, I ended this earlier than I actually planned, just so you don't know what Naruto is going to do exactly!  
**


End file.
